THE death toll of a terrorist attack against a government office in Kabul rose to 43 with 10 others injured, an Afghan Public Health Ministry spokesman said yesterday.

“The Kabul Ambulance Service has carried 43 martyred and 10 injured to hospitals in Kabul following Monday’s terrorist attack,” spokesman Waheed Majroh told Xinhua.

Figures about the casualties may change as security forces and rescue teams are searching the building, he said.

The attack occurred Monday afternoon when a suicide bomber detonated a car bomb outside the targeted office, which provides service to family members of soldiers and ordinary people who lost their lives during the war or terrorist attacks.

At least two gunmen made their way inside the building after the blast, spreading bullets on the people inside before security forces’ arrival.

The counterattack ended at early hours of yesterday.

About 357 people were rescued by the Afghan Special Operations Forces from the targeted building.

Parts of the targeted building caught fire, and the nearby Afghan Public Works Ministry’s building and several other buildings and cars were damaged following the attack.

The attack occurred in Makruyan-e-Awal locality near Shashdarak, where several foreign embassies located.

The area also gives home to several apartment buildings and several government offices, including Ministry of Public Works.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack so far.

(Xinhua)