8 killed, 400 injured in Kabul truck bombing

Security personnel keep watch at the site of a truck bomb blast in Kabul, Afghanistan August 7, 2015. The truck bomb exploded near an army compound in the center of the Afghan capital on Friday, killing at least eight people and wounding close to 200. [Photo/Agencies]

KABUL -- At least eight civilians were killed while nearly 400 others wounded in a truck bomb attack in Afghan capital Kabul at wee hours of Friday, sources said.

"A truck bomb was detonated in the 3rd street of Shah Shahid Mina locality in eastern Kabul at around 1:00 am Friday. The blast caused eight civilians killed and 128 others wounded," Kabul police chief Gen. Abdul Rahman Rahimi told reporters at the scene.

The blast took place near an Afghan army base and destroyed parts of the compound's surrounding wall in addition to destroying dozens of shops and houses, he said.

"All the killed and injured were innocent civilians. Most of the injured received wounds as a result of the shattered glasses and that the number of the casualties may further rise," Rahimi noted.

The target of the attack remained unknown.

Wahidullha Mayar, a public health spokesman, told local media that some 400 injured were admitted to Kabul hospitals following the powerful explosion.

Further details about the incident are still forthcoming amid the absence of official statements.

A nearby business center was completely destroyed by the blast.

Due to traffic police restriction, trucks are not allow to run in Kabul during the day time. The drivers only can drive trucks from late night to wee hours of the day around the city.

No group or militant organization has claimed responsibility for the attack so far.

The Taliban-led insurgency has been rampant since late April when the militant group launched its so-called annual spring offensive in different places of the militancy-plagued Afghanistan which had claimed hundreds of lives including militants, security personnel and civilians.

Nearly 1,600 civilians were killed and more than 3,300 others wounded in conflicts and Taliban-led attacks in the first six months of the year, according to official figures by the UN mission in the country.

The officials blamed the attacks of Taliban insurgents and other armed groups for vast majority of the civilian deaths and injuries in the first half of the year.