Second blast rocks Afghan capital in one day

Afghan sources say a huge blast rocked a diplomatic area of the capital, Kabul, on Tuesday hours after a deadly blast hit the city.

A police source told Press TV that an improvised explosive device went off in the area.

Earlier in the day, nearly 30 people were killed and over 320 others injured in a powerful explosion claimed by the Taliban militants in central Kabul. The bombing targeted a building of the national security agency.

The Afghan Presidential Palace condemned the Taliban attack "in the strongest possible terms."

A few hours after the first attack, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon also condemned the blast.

"First of all, I would like to express my deepest condolences for the victims and their families and friends and I condemn strongly this terrorist attack for the people in Afghanistan. There is no justification whatsoever for attacking civilian people as well as security people. We must fight against these terrorist attacks."

Meanwhile, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said in a statement, "(We) condemn in the strongest terms the terrorist attack in Puli Mahmood Khan neighborhood of Kabul, as a result of which many of our countrymen were martyred and wounded."

"Such cowardly terrorist attacks will not weaken the will and determination of Afghan security forces to fight against terrorism."

The Taliban have stepped up attacks against foreign troops and Afghan security forces since announcing the start of their spring offensive last week. The Taliban said in a statement that the campaign had begun at 5 a.m. local time (0030 GMT) on April 12.

The militants also dubbed the offensive “Operation Omari” in honor of Taliban founder and long-time leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar, who purportedly died at a hospital in Karachi, the main seaport and financial center of Pakistan, in April 2013.

The latest figures released by the United Nations show that acts of terrorism and violence left 600 people dead in Afghanistan during the first quarter of the current year as the armed forces continue to battle Taliban militants.

According to the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), a total of 600 Afghan civilians lost their lives between January 1 and March 31, 2016, while 1,343 others were injured. Afghanistan is gripped by insecurity 15 years after the United States and its allies attacked the country as part of Washington’s so-called war on terror.

The war removed the Taliban from power but insecurity is still rampant in the country despite the presence of thousands of foreign troops.

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