KABUL — A car bomb Tuesday killed at least 17 civilians, most of them employees of Afghanistan’s Supreme Court, in one of the deadliest attacks in the capital in the past year.
The explosives were detonated at the entrance of the Supreme Court just as employees were boarding buses to go home, said Gen. Mohammed Zahir, chief of the Kabul police investigative division. Afghan officials said that in addition to the fatalities, 39 people were injured. All the casualties were civilians.
Washington Post
Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the attack, saying in a statement the militants were obliged to attack "cruel judges" who do the bidding of foreign powers.
CBS
Tuesday's attack appeared to underline the Taliban's readiness to target civilians, particularly court officials, whom they consider an arm of the Western-backed government of President Hamid Karzai.
In April, Taliban gunmen killed 44 people in the main court compound in the western province of Farah. A Taliban spokesman said they had sent several warnings to court staff telling them not to work there.
Reuters
“There were casualties among the supreme court officials,” said eyewitness Mohammad Salem.
AP
Police spokesman Hashmat Stanikzai said the bomber drove an SUV and specifically targeted the buses with court workers. Police said all the victims were civilians or court staff.
AP
The attacker's car was parked on a road near the court compound and exploded when the minibuses passed, police said.
A Reuters witness described seeing a damaged minibus leaning at an angle against some trees about 30 meters from the point of the explosion. The witness later saw police carry two bodies from the same area.
Reuters
Witnesses and policemen described a scene of devastation, with three buses destroyed and body parts strewn over an area as wide as 200 yards from the blast’s center. People were injured even in nearby apartment buildings, where one man frantically called a relative saying he was too injured to move.
New York Times