Afghan Rebel Rockets Slam Into Kabul; 43 Killed, 100 Wounded

Muslim guerrillas fired eight rockets into the capital Saturday, killing at least 43 people and wounding more than 100 in the deadliest attack on the city in 11 years of civil war, government and hospital officials said.

State-run Radio Kabul, monitored in Islamabad, Pakistan, said 40 people were killed in the attack and 137 injured. A Foreign Ministry spokesman, Mohammed Nabi Amani, said at least 40 people were killed and 114 were wounded.

At least 20 people died when a rocket landed at a bus station near the city center, Amani said. The terminal was crowded with people when the rocket hit at 10 a.m., witnesses said.

“I was selling cigarettes when suddenly I heard a loud bang and people around me started screaming,” said Mohammed Abdullah, a 16-year-old vendor, as he spoke from his hospital bed. “That is the last thing I remember.”

Hospital sources said later that at least three people had died of their wounds.

“Many of the injured are in a very critical condition,” said one doctor, as nurses tore strips of cloth into bandages. “There is no way we can save them.”

Pakistani-based guerrilla forces had no immediate comment on Saturday’s attack. One rocket landed 100 yards from the office of Premier Sultan Ali Kishtmand, breaking windows but causing no casualties, Amani said. Casualties were reported from a marketplace and a construction site near the Foreign Ministry, he said.

The government closed off all areas near government buildings and ordered a security clampdown on the city.

“Behind the terrorists who fired the rockets are the bloodstained hands of Pakistan and the United States,” Amani said. “The most obvious reaction on the part of the government would be to retaliate.”

The previous worst attack on Kabul was on April 27, when 65 rockets were fired into the city and 27 people were killed.