Explosion in a packed Kabul market injures 11 people, including children, humanitarian group says

ISLAMABAD — An explosion in a packed Kabul market on Wednesday injured 11 people, including children, a nongovernmental organization said.

The source of the blast was not immediately clear and nobody from the Taliban was available for comment.

The blast struck a second-hand clothes market in the Pamir Cinema district, said the humanitarian group Emergency NGO, which runs a surgical centre in the Afghan capital.

Emergency’s deputy country director in Afghanistan, Stefano Gennaro Smirnov, said a 3-year-old girl and a 4-year-old boy were among the injured. A man is in critical condition.

“The explosion took place at a second-hand clothes market when it opened and people crowded to get in,” said Smirnov. “This is the Pamir Cinema neighborhood, one of the most densely populated in Kabul. Many of those affected by this attack will be living in conditions of severe poverty.”

While extremists in Afghanistan have increased their assaults since the Taliban takeover in 2021, their targets are normally the Taliban and members of the country’s Shiite minority.