PUL-E-ALAM, May 1 (NNN-XINHUA) – At least 30 civilians were killed and 70 others wounded, as a car bomb blast rocked a crowded road outside a provincial hospital in Pul-e-Alam, capital of Afghanistan’s eastern Logar province yesterday, a local source confirmed.
Initial information found a suicide bomber detonated the car bomb roughly at 6:50 p.m. local time, minutes after people were breaking their fast, during the holy month of Ramadan, the source said.
“The death toll may rise as many of the wounded are in critical condition. The building and ambulances of the main provincial hospital were destroyed by the force of the explosion,” he said.
Several medical personnel were also affected. Ambulances from private hospitals and nearby districts rushed to the site to help the victims.
According to him, most of the victims were students, who came from Logar districts, to attend a university entrance exam, earlier in the day and gathered in small restaurants around the hospital to break their fast.
Dastagir Nazari, a spokesman of the Public Health Ministry, told reporters that dozens of ambulances were dispatched from the national capital, Kabul to Pul-e-Alam, around 60 km south of Kabul.
Power supply was suspended in the area after the explosion damaged an electric pole.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack yet.– NNN-XINHUA
