All the victims of gunmen attack on the Ministry of Public Work and the National Authority on Disabled and Heirs of Martyrs’ Affairs in Kabul’s PD16 are civilians, except one police force member, officials said.

The attack started on Monday afternoon and started with a car bomb explosion near the buildings of the two government departments and according to the Ministry of Public Health, it left 43 people killed and 10 others were wounded. 

The employees who were inside the buildings when the attack started said a number of their colleagues were killed in shootings by the gunmen.

“They breached the armored door with rocket. We were all dispersed. I was hiding in the balcony. Two men entered our office. One said to theanother to bring lighter and then they sit on fire the office,” said Abdul Mubin, a manager at retirement department of Public Works Ministry. 

“They came upstairs and were shooting on the doors. They were shooting on anyone appeared in front of them,” said Abdul Jalil, an employee of the ministry. 

Sulaiman Omar, 25, was a financial advisor in the Ministry of Public Works. According to his relatives, he had a master’s degree in political science from India but was killed on Monday attack. On Tuesday, his family and relatives took Omar’s body from the Wazir Akbar Khan Hospital. 

“Such attacks and killings of innocent people show that they (militants) are the enemy of the humanity and their activities are against all the legal, religious and social standards,” said Massoud, a relative of Omar. 

“He was my friend. We studied together and were roommates. We studied at one university, but yesterday, we lost him in the cowardly attack,”said Shoaib, Omar’s friend.  

Another survivor, Abdul Aziz, said the attackers were shooting on anyone they would see in the buildings. 

Aziz said he lost his son in an attack on the election day, October 20, in Maidan Wardak therefore he visited the National Authority on Disabled and Heirs of Martyrs’ Affairs for processing administrative works of his son’s documents, but he sustained injury in the attack.

“I was standing in front of the secretariat number 119 of the authority. They (attackers) appeared from downstairs and were shooting on anyone they would see. One bullet hit my shoulder and another was about to touch my ear,” said Aziz.  

Among those wounded, there are some female employees of the government departments. 

“In our office, I was wounded and I saw another girl who also sustained injuries,” said Rohafza Atif, an employee of the Public Works Ministry.

“Our office provides services to people with disabilities and families of martyrs. It means that our employees are the people who support thedisabled and heirs of martyrs. But unfortunately, we were also targeted, and a number of our colleagues lost their lives. Our information shows that so far 34 people have been killed from our office,” said Jamila Nuristani, technical deputy head of the National Authority on Disabled and Heirs of Martyrs’ Affairs. 

“At least 23 wounded were brought to our hospital of whom seven were women. Eight of them are in beds and the rest have been discharged,”said Mohammad Musa Zahir, a physician at Wazir Akbar Khan Hospital in Kabul.

The attack ended after 10 hours.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack. Taliban has rejected involvement in the attack.