Paris’ Eiffel Tower lights go out in honor of Kabul blast victims

Lights were switched off at Paris' Eiffel Tower just before midnight (2200GMT) on Wednesday (May 31) in honour of the victims of a truck bomb in Kabul. Photo grabbed from Reuters video file.
Lights were switched off at Paris’ Eiffel Tower just before midnight (2200GMT) on Wednesday (May 31). (from Reuters video file)

PARIS, France (Reuters) – Lights were switched off at Paris’ Eiffel Tower just before midnight (2200GMT) on Wednesday (May 31) in honor of the victims of a truck bomb in Kabul, Afghanistan.

A powerful bomb hidden in a sewage tanker exploded in the morning rush hour in the center of Kabul, killing at least 80 people, wounding hundreds more and damaging embassy buildings in the Afghan capital’s unofficial “Green Zone.”

The victims of the explosion at a busy intersection appeared mainly to have been Afghan civilians on their way to work or school, including office workers whose nearby buildings did not have the protection of the blast walls that fortify the zone.

The blast, at the start of the month of Ramadan, was one of the deadliest seen in Kabul, Deputy Interior Minister Murad Ali said.