40 killed, 140 injured in Kabul suicide car bombing

A suicide car bomber killed at least 40 people and wounded about 140 in an attack claimed by the Taliban on Saturday in Afghanistan’s capital Kabul, authorities said. The bombing comes just a week after Taliban militants killed 22 at an international hotel in the city.

The attacker used an ambulance to get through a security checkpoint, telling police he was taking a patient to a nearby hospital, said Nasrat Rahimi, deputy spokesperson for the Interior Ministry. The attacker then detonated his explosives at a second check point, Mr. Rahimi said.

Zabihullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman, claimed responsibility for the bombing, which sent thick, black smoke into the sky from the site near the government’s former Interior Ministry building. Also nearby are the European Union and Indian consulates.

A week ago, six Taliban militants attacked the city’s Intercontinental Hotel, leaving 22 people dead, including 14 foreigners. Some 150 guests fled the gunbattle and fire sparked by the assault by shimmying down bedsheets from the upper floors. The U.S. State Department said multiple American citizens were killed and injured in the attack.

On December 28, a suicide bomber and other explosions at a Shii’te cultural center in Kabul killed at least 41 people in an attack claimed by the Islamic State group that may have been aimed at a pro-Iran news outlet based in the building.

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