Some bodies were taken out of the debris on Sunday, a day after a car bomb attack in front of the National Directorate of Security (NDS) office in Ghanikhil district in the eastern province of Nangarhar, according to TOLOnews’ Sharif Amiry. 

The explosion was huge and devastated many houses and heavily damaged the district governor’s compound.

Initial reports indicate that the attack left 16 people dead and over 50 wounded. 

Mohammad Khan, a resident of the district, said his son’s body—Mohmmad Irshad, who was 10 years old—was found in the area on Sunday. Khan said he could find only a few remnants of his young son’s body from the debris. 

“Only his leg is available. We collected meat from other bodies as well to make a body. That will be enough,” Khan said. 

Mohammad Irshad was in the fourth grade at school. His books were left at the scene of the explosion as he was on his way home from school when the blast happened. His father said he was the top scorer in his class. 

“We were walking together but I was a little far when the explosion happened,” said Mohammad Ikrah, brother of Mohammad Irshad, who recalled the incident with tears in his eyes. 

Mohammad Noorzai, a driver, said he was close to the truck loaded with explosives some minutes ahead of the explosion. 

“I saw the truck. Then I heard a bang and then I didn’t know what happened next,” Noorzai said. 

This is not the end of the story for the victims. Bismullah Shinwari, a cricket umpire for Afghanistan’s National Cricket Team, lost four members of his family, including women and children, and two other members of his family were wounded in the explosion. 

“We call on both sides to stop shedding Afghan blood,” Shinwari said. 

The explosion happened amid heated debates about the start of the peace negotiations in Doha. But violence remains very high in the country.

No group claimed responsibility for the attack, but the Afghan government blamed the Taliban for the explosion.