BREAKING NEWS::60 Dead, 120 Wounded in Afghan Hospital Blast

BREAKING NEWS

60 Dead, 120 Wounded in Afghan Hospital Blast

At least 60 people have been killed in a suicide bombing attack at a medical clinic in Afghanistan's Logar province, just south of the capital, Kabul.

The ministry of public health said 120 others were wounded in the blast, which struck in Azra district on Saturday.

"As a result of this heartbreaking incident, 60 of our countrymen including children, women, youths and men ... have been martyred and 120 others including health workers have been injured," the statement said.

Din Mohammad Darwaish, the Logar provincial spokesman, said the bomber had been driving an "an SUV packed with explosives".

"The target of the blast is not clear but what is obvious is that a hospital was attacked and civilians were killed ... The casualties are all patients, their visitors and relatives and hospital personnel."

Al Jazeera's Bernard Smith, reporting from Kabul, said the clinic was mainly treating women and children.

He said the explosion had been described as "enormous" and had completely razed the building and one next to it.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast and the Taliban denied it was behind the attack, with spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid saying: "We condemn this attack on a hospital ... whoever has done this wants to defame the Taliban."

The head of Logar's provincial council, Abdul Wali Wakeel, said local officials had contacted foreign forces to ask for help in evacuating the wounded to hospital.

Counterterrorism summit

Saturday's attack came as Afghan President Hamid Karzai told a counterterrorism summit in Iran that despite his government's efforts, militancy was on the rise in both his country and the region.

"Unfortunately, despite all the achievements in the fields of education, infrastructure and reconstruction, not only has Afghanistan not yet achieved peace and security, but terrorism is expanding and threatening more than ever Afghanistan and the region," he told the opening session.

On Friday, 10 people were killed by a bicycle bomb, which went off in a busy bazaar in Khad Abad district of the northern province of Kunduz.

Earlier this week, US President Barack Obama announced that 33,000 US forces would leave Afghanistan by the end of next summer.

All foreign combat forces are due to pull out of the country by the end of 2014. There are currently up to 150,000 foreign forces in Afghanistan, including around 99,000 from the US.

Some analysts fear that Afghan security forces may struggle to contain violence, which has reached record levels, as withdrawals start to get under way.

Nearly 2,800 civilians were killed in Afghanistan last year, according to the United Nations.

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies