35 die in deadliest attack since fall of Taliban

A BOMB ripped through a police academy bus at Kabul’s busiest transportation hub yesterday, killing at least 35 people in the deadliest insurgent attack in Afghanistan since the US-led invasion in 2001.

The Taliban claimed responsibility.

The explosion, which sheared the metal sidings and roof off the bus leaving only a charred frame, represented a leap in scale from previous Taliban or al-Qaida bombings, raising the spectre of an increase in Iraq-style attacks in Afghanistan.

At least 22 policemen died in the explosion, said Ahmed Zia Aftali, head of the city’s military hospital.

A victim said the bus had been filled with police instructors.

A purported Taliban spokesman, Qari Yousef Ahmadi, said a Taliban suicide bomber was responsible.

The claim by the spokesman, who spoke by satellite phone from an undisclosed location, could not be verified. If true, it would be the fifth suicide attack in Afghanistan in three days.

Unidentifiable body parts littered the blast site 30 yards away. Hundreds of police and investigators — with some pulling bodies from the wreckage — ordered civilians to leave the area, an outdoor bus station normally teeming with people.

At a nearby hospital, a large blue plastic trash can overflowed with the bloodied shoes and sandals of victims.

“Never in my life have I heard such a sound,” said Ali Jawad, a 48-year-old selling phone cards nearby. “A big fireball followed. I saw blood and a decapitated man thrown out of the bus. Wounded people were shouting, ‘Help me, help me’ and women and children were shouting and running in different directions.”

At least one person on the bus survived.

Afghan government officials, police and army soldiers are commonly targeted by insurgents trying to bring down the US-backed government of the president, Hamid Karzai.

Hundreds of Afghan police, army or intelligence personnel have been killed in violence this year.