At least 30 people killed and many others injured in bombing in eastern Logar province.
At least 30 people have been killed in a suicide bomb attack at a hospital in Afghanistan.
Estimates of the casualties, which included patients and medical staff, varied widely as chaos enveloped the facility in Azra district of eastern Logar province, which is just south of capital Kabul. Dozens more were wounded in the attack.
The bomber had been driving an "an SUV packed with explosives," officials said.
Deen Mohammad Darwish, a spokesman for the Logar provincial government, said as many as 35 people were killed, although Afghanistan's Interior Ministry put the death toll at 20.
"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," Darwish said.
President Hamid Karzai and his government strongly condemned the attack.
"Our health centres are not the place of political and military activities and our staff do not engage in political activities," said Dr Soraya Daleel, Afghanistan's Minister of Public Health. "This is an inhumane action and we condemn it," she said.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid denied responsibility for the attack. "We condemn this attack on a hospital ... whoever has done this wants to defame the Taliban," he said.
Al Jazeera's Bernard Smith, reporting from Kabul, said the hospital 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.
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.
Source:
Al Jazeera and agencies
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