Blast in Afghanistan’s Kandahar city kills 16 people

By Shadi Khan Saif

KABUL, Afghanistan (AA) - At least 16 people were killed and more than 30 others wounded following a blast in a shipping container allegedly by the Taliban in the country's second-largest city, Kandahar, on Tuesday, according to regional governor’s office.

Provincial governor’s spokesman Daoud Ahmadi told Anadolu Agency a bomb disposal unit was busy defusing explosives in one of the two loaded containers in the city when the explosion took place.

“The National Directorate of Security, the spy agency, got a tip that one of these containers was filled with explosives and suicide vest. Their [NDS] engineers defused one of the [bombs in the] containers, but the second one exploded,” Ahmadi said.

According to the spokesman, many of the wounded were reportedly in critical state, and the death toll may rise further. Civilians, including four children, are among the victims, he added.

President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani condemned this incident.

“The terrorists, based on their false believes, have initiated a spate of horror in which infrastructure installations, schools, religious centers, mosques, play grounds, roads, markets are attacked,” Ghani said in a statement.

There has been no immediate claim of responsibility for the incident.