Massive truck bomb kills over 80 in Kabul

Timeline of Kabul attacks since 2016

A massive truck bomb ripped through Kabul’s diplomatic quater on Wednesday, killing at least 80 people and wounding over 300.

Here are some of the worst attacks in the Afghan capital over the past year and a half:

– 2016 –

– January 20: A Taliban suicide bomber rams his car into a minibus belonging to television channel Tolo, killing seven of its employees, in the first major attack on the Afghan media.

– February 1: Twenty police officers are killed and 29 people injured in a Taliban suicide attack on a police base in Kabul.

– February 27: A suicide bomber blows himself up outside the defence ministry, killing 12 in an attack claimed by the Taliban.

– April 19: A truck bomb followed by a shootout leaves 64 people dead and more than 340 injured in central Kabul in a Taliban-claimed attack.

– May 25: Ten people are killed in a Taliban suicide attack targeting a minibus carrying court employees in a western Kabul suburb.

– June 20: Fourteen Nepalese security guards employed by Western embassies are killed on the outskirts of Kabul, in a Taliban assault.

– June 30: A double suicide attack by the Taliban against a convoy of police recruits leaves 30 dead.

– July 23: Islamic State jihadists claim responsibility for twin explosions that rips through crowds of Shiite Hazaras in Kabul, killing at least 85 people and wounding more than 400.

– August 25: Sixteen people are killed after militants storm the American University of Afghanistan in Kabul, in a nearly 10-hour raid that was not claimed.

– September 5: A double Taliban attack near the defence ministry leaves 41 dead and more than a hundred injured.

Overnight a third attack, which was not claimed, targets aid group CARE International in central Kabul. Six are injured.

– October 12: Islamic State claim responsibility for an attack on a shrine that kills at least 18 people gathering to mark Ashura, one of the most important Shiite festivals.

– October 19: Two Americans including a civilian are killed when a gunman opens fire near a NATO base in Kabul, with Afghan officials calling it an “insider attack”.

– November 21: A massive suicide blast targeting Shiites kills at least 27 people and wounds 64 at a Kabul mosque in another sectarian attack claimed by IS.

– 2017 –

– January 10: Twin blasts near the Afghan parliament kill 38 people and wound 86.

– February 7: A suicide bomb rips through a crowd of Supreme Court employees, killing at least 20 and wounding 41. No group claims responsibility.

– March 1: Sixteen people are killed in simultaneous Taliban suicide assaults on two security compounds.

– March 8: Gunmen disguised as doctors storm Afghanistan’s largest military hospital in a six-hour attack officially claimed by IS. The official death toll is 50 but security sources and survivors say it exceeded 100.

– May 3: A powerful blast targeting a foreign forces convoy near the US embassy and NATO headquarters kills at least eight people and wounds 28 during morning rush hour.

– May 31: At least 80 people are killed and hundreds wounded when a massive truck bomb rips through Kabul’s diplomatic quarter, shattering windows hundreds of metres away.