The BBC said that one of its staff members, a driver named Mohammed Nazir who was ferrying colleagues to the news organization’s office, was killed and that four journalists were injured. BBC World Service Director Francesca Unsworth called it “a devastating loss.”
The blast also caused damage at Amani High School, a large, elite school supported by the German government that sits behind the German embassy.
“Many students in 12th grade were injured. Everyone was crying and running in panic,” Haseeb, a 15-year-old student, said as he was being walked to safety with fellow students.
Many of the victims were brought to the Italian-run hospital, Emergency, which attends to war victims. A crowd gathered outside, many waiting on news of loved ones being treated.
“We have lost him, we have lost him!” one man screamed in desperation. He was speaking of a colleague who had been traveling in a taxi and was seriously injured in the blast.
Atiqullah, 24, was standing outside his restaurant in front of the hospital when the explosion happened.
“I think I saw more than 200 injured people being brought to Emergency,” he said as he picked up pieces of broken glass outside his restaurant.
A teenage boy, Rizwan, who was on his way to an Islamic school for Koran recitals, had blood stains on his shirt and a bandage on his ear, the result of broken glass from a shop window.
“It was a very heavy explosion,” he said. “We didn’t know which way to go.”