At least 20 killed, closely 400 wounded in Kabul’s truck bomb

At least 20 people were killed and closely 400 others wounded when a truck bomb targeted an Afghan National Army base went off in Shah Shaheed area of Kabul city, exploded in Kabul early on Friday, officials said.

Injured people including children were rushed to hospital for treatment. Some bodies are feared buried in the wreckage of shops and businesses.

“A truck bomb was detonated in the 3rd street of Shah Shahid Mina locality in eastern Kabul at around 1:00 a.m. Friday. The blast caused twenty civilians killed and 400 others wounded,” a sources reported on condition of anonymity.

A local hospital official said their facility had been flooded with patients, including many women and children. Most were arriving on foot, the official said, and were being treated for superficial injuries.

Public health ministry spokesperson Wahidullah Mayar said there were reports of blood shortages in hospitals and urgent appeals for donors were circulating on social media.

The Taliban face growing internal divisions after Mullah Akhtar Mansour was announced as the new head of the insurgent movement on Friday, following their confirmation of the death of Mullah Omar who led the militant movement for some 20 years.

An increasingly bitter power struggle has broken out, casting a pall over a fragile peace process aimed at ending Afghanistan’s long war.

Civilian casualties in Afghanistan hit a record high in the first half of 2015, a UN report said on Wednesday, as Afghan forces struggle to contain the expanding conflict seven months after the Nato combat mission ended.