Afghan security forces members and civilians assist the injured after a blast in Kabul.

Afghan security forces members and civilians assist the injured after a blast in Kabul. -AFP

Buildings hundreds of meters (yards) away were shaken by the force of the blast, which left torn bodies strewn on the street amid piles of rubble, debris, and wrecked cars.

“Today’s attack is nothing short of an atrocity,” Tadamichi Yamamoto — the head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan — said in a statement, adding that those behind it must be brought to justice.

The casualty toll is the worst since 150 people were killed in a huge truck bomb explosion last May near the German embassy. That attack prompted a major reinforcement of security aimed at preventing similar vehicle-borne assaults.

Security officials said further attacks were likely and security was tightened around potential targets in the city.

But with much of central Kabul already a heavily fortified zone of high concrete blast walls and police checkpoints, there were angry questions about how the bomber got through.

“Officials must be held responsible,” said former deputy Interior Minister Mohammad Ayub Salangi.

People helped walking-wounded away as ambulances with sirens wailed through the traffic-clogged streets of the city centre.

“I was sitting in the office when the explosion went off,” Alam — an office worker whose head was badly cut in the blast — said. “All the windows shattered, the building collapsed, and everything came down.”

The Swedish and Dutch embassies as well as the European Union mission and an Indian consular office are also nearby but there were no reports that any staff were hurt.