KABOUL

• Afghanistan has seen a bloody start to the month of Ramadan with a truck bombing that killed at least 80 people and wounded more than 300 people on Wednesday in the heart of Kabul's diplomatic quarter.
• "Unfortunately, the death toll has reached 80 people and more than 300 injured, many of them women and children," Health Ministry spokesman Waheed Majroh said. That new bodies continued to be removed from the debris.
• The explosion, whose target was unclear in the immediate past and which caused a shock wave and enormous damage to the round, was caused by "a suicide bomber who operated a vehicle stuffed with explosives place Zanbaq in the 10th district of Kabul "around 8:30 local time, according to the Ministry of Interior.

• It had still not been claimed in the middle of the day. A Taliban spokesman said on Twitter that the insurgent group "is not involved in the Kabul bombing and strongly condemns it".
• The explosion took place near a checkpoint leading to the presidential palace, and several embassies, including German and Indian. A thick column of black smoke rose from the area of ​​attack.
• The explosion was so strong that it shook much of the city, blowing many windows and causing panic among the population.
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• An AFP photographer saw several elongated bodies and wounded in distress and covered with blood near the area of ​​the explosion.
• Dozens of demolished cars lay abandoned on the site, where security forces and relief were deployed. A helicopter was spinning over the site.
• Men and women were desperately trying to cross the checkpoints to search for their loved ones, AFP said. Traders were trying to sweep away the debris from their shop windows.

• Faced with the emergency, the government called the population to donate blood in hospitals.
• The embassies of France and Germany have suffered "material damage", said the French Minister of European Affairs Marielle de Sarnez. She said "no further information at this time on the issue of persons".
• The explosion occurred about a hundred meters from the Indian Embassy as the crow flies, Ambassador Manpreet Vohra told Times Now, noting that no staff members were among the victims.
• "The explosion was very strong and the buildings nearby, ours included, suffered considerable damage in terms of broken windows and windows, blown doors, etc.", he added.

SPRING OFFENSIVE

• The attack on Wednesday comes a few days after the beginning of the fasting month of Ramadan.
• The head of the Afghan executive, Abdullah Abdullah, strongly condemned the attack on Twitter. "We are for peace but those who kill us during the holy month of Ramadan do not deserve to be called to make peace, they must be destroyed," he said.
  The attack comes shortly after the announcement in late April by the Taliban of the beginning of their "spring offensive." The Islamic State group has also committed several bloody attacks in the capital.
• Pentagon leader Jim Mattis recently said he expected a "tough new year" for the Afghan army and foreign troops in Afghanistan.

• US President Donald Trump is considering sending thousands more troops to break the deadlock.
• The United States, which is engaged in Afghanistan in the longest conflict in its history, has deployed 8,400 troops in Afghanistan alongside the 5,000 troops sent by allied NATO states, whose main mission is to train and Advise Afghan soldiers.

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