3rd LD Writethru: Afghan president meets victims of Kabul bomb attack

Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani on Friday paid a visit to a hospital and met the injured of a deadly bomb attack earlier in the day in Kabul.

"It was an unprecedented incident ... the government will hold urgent meetings. We will hold special meetings tomorrow and would review a security plan for the Kabul city," Ghani said while visiting the injured in Emergency Hospital for Victims of War, a surgery hospital in central Kabul on Friday afternoon.

"Some eight civilians were killed and up to 400 others wounded. About 45 injured are receiving intensive treatment in hospitals as I talk while the rest of the injured were discharged from the hospitals earlier," spokesman Qawoosi added.

The massive blast, which took place at around 01:00 a.m. Friday in Shah Shahid Mina, a populated area, caused a huge crater at the middle of the road in addition to destroying several shops and houses.

Four women and two children were among the killed while dozens of women and children were also wounded by the incident, according to officials.

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

The Afghan leader, who returned home after a tour to Germany overnight, has strongly condemned the incident and instructed the ministries of public health, defense and interior to provide best medical service to the injured.

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) also condemned the incident.

"I condemn, in the strongest terms, today's indiscriminate attack in Kabul," said Nicholas Haysom, the Secretary-General's Special Representative for Afghanistan.

"I reiterate UNAMA's repeated calls for the immediate ban of weapons which kill and maim indiscriminately, and to cease attacks in civilian-populated areas. Those responsible for such attacks must be held accountable," Haysom said.

A truck heavily packed with explosive materials was detonated in the Shah Shahid area of Kabul in the middle of the night when people were sleeping. Among those killed and injured were women and children, the UNAMA statement noted.

"UNAMA extends its condolences to the families of all of those killed in the explosion and wishes a speedy recovery to those who were injured."

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 UNAMA figures released on Wednesday.

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. Endi