21 killed, nearly 50 wounded in suicide bombing outside Afghan top court in Kabul

A suicide bomber on foot ripped through a crowd of Afghan Supreme Court employees on Tuesday, killing at least 21 people including nine women and wounding 41 others in the second attack on government institutions in under a month.

The assailant detonated the device in the parking lot as employees were boarding a bus to go home, leaving bodies and dismembered limbs scattered around the area, with women and children among the casualties.

“21 killed (including 9 women), 41 wounded (including 9 women and 2 children) in today’s #Supremecourt #Suicide attack, #Kabul, #Afghanistan,” health ministry official Wahidullah Mayar wrote on Twitter.

No group has so far claimed responsibility for the blast in the snow-laden Afghan capital, but it occurred as the Taliban are ramping up their nationwide insurgency even in the peak winter months when fighting usually abates. My father and I were exiting through the parking lot when a huge blast hit us,” said a witness, breaking down in tears. “My father is dead now. How will I live without him?”

The piercingly loud explosion shook nearby buildings, smashing windows and blasting debris onto the streets. Police blocked off the road around the high-profile compound located near the US embassy as panicked relatives of court employees began to gather and ambulances and fire trucks rushed to the scene.

The health ministry warned the toll could rise still further.

There were scenes of desperation at the Italian-run Emergency hospital in Kabul as anxious civilians looking for missing relatives searched through the ambulances that brought the dead and wounded.