The affected gas station was located in the Qala-e-Murad Bek area along the highway that connects Kabul with the country’s northern provinces, the Interior Ministry said.
The blaze couldn’t be contained in time and spread onto a line of fuel trucks waiting to enter Kabul. The vehicles were being engulfed one after another, the Interior Ministry spokesman told Tolo News.
The fire sent a huge plume of black smoke into the air and colored the night skies above the capital in red, providing for a truly apocalyptic site.
Alarmed residents of Kabul posted photos of the blaze on social media, while trying to guess what might have caused it.
There’s been no information about casualties so far, but the area around the gas station reportedly suffered significant damage.
The disaster also affected power lines, which left some parts of the capital without electricity.
The reasons for the blaze are currently unclear, but violence has been on the rise in Afghanistan in recent weeks.
Attacks intensified after US President Joe Biden said American troops, who have been in the country for two decades, will be withdrawn from Afghanistan by September 11. During peace talks with the Taliban in February 2020, Biden’s predecessor, Donald Trump, had promised that the pullout will be complete by May 1, with the new date reportedly angering the group.
On Friday, a car bomb explosion caused the collapse of a building and killed 30 people in the main city of Afghanistan’s Logar province. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
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