Story highlights
- Rush-hour blast brings carnage to the diplomatic quarter of Afghan capital
- Local journalists captured the aftermath on video before rescuers arrived
(CNN)Moments after a massive suicide bomb ripped through Kabul's diplomatic quarter on Wednesday, two local journalists rushed through the clouds of black smoke and burning cars to document the devastation on video before first responders arrived on the scene.
Blood trickled down the face of 1TV Afghanistan's Sohail Sediqi as he spoke into his phone camera: "We have come here to help, but there is no one else, not even the police to help."
"Look, there is no one to help. Everyone has fled the area," said Sediqi, surrounded by the dust and debris and bodies of the dead.
The bomb, which went off during rush hour, killed at least 90 people and wounded 400, according to Afghanistan's Government Media Information Center.
The blast, which came just a few days into the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, is one of the deadliest to hit the war-weary capital in recent years.
The streets were packed with commuters, women shopping and children going to school.
The studios of 1TV Afghanistan, only about 100 meters away from the site of the explosion, were all but destroyed. Windows fell from the walls, doors came off the frames and much of the equipment was badly damaged.
Photos: A suicide bomb attack targets Kabul's diplomatic zone
Afghan security forces patrol the site of a deadly suicide bomb attack in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Wednesday, May 31. The blast struck near the German Embassy, according to Afghan officials.
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Photos: A suicide bomb attack targets Kabul's diplomatic zone
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Photos: A suicide bomb attack targets Kabul's diplomatic zone
A wounded man is helped away from the scene of the attack, which struck in the midst of Kabul's morning rush hour.
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Photos: A suicide bomb attack targets Kabul's diplomatic zone
Women covered in blood stand dazed in the aftermath of the attack near Kabul's highly secure diplomatic area.
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Photos: A suicide bomb attack targets Kabul's diplomatic zone
An injured man receives aid following the attack.
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Photos: A suicide bomb attack targets Kabul's diplomatic zone
Bystanders help evacuate people from the area of the explosion.
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Photos: A suicide bomb attack targets Kabul's diplomatic zone
Security forces gather near the site of the attack.
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Photos: A suicide bomb attack targets Kabul's diplomatic zone
People help an injured man following the attack.
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Photos: A suicide bomb attack targets Kabul's diplomatic zone
Victims' bodies are placed in the back of a police truck at a hospital in Kabul.
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Photos: A suicide bomb attack targets Kabul's diplomatic zone
Office workers leave the site of the suicide attack. German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said the attack was "aimed at civilians and those who are in Afghanistan to work with the people there for a better future of the country."
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Photos: A suicide bomb attack targets Kabul's diplomatic zone
German and Afghan authorities inspect the scene of the blast. German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said the attack was in the "immediate vicinity" of the nation's embassy. "In the attack, officials of the German Embassy were also injured. In the meantime, all employees are safe," Gabriel said.
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Photos: A suicide bomb attack targets Kabul's diplomatic zone
Volunteers carry the body of a victim to the Wazir Akbar Khan Hospital in Kabul.
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Photos: A suicide bomb attack targets Kabul's diplomatic zone
A mangled vehicle is lifted out of the wreckage after the explosion.
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Photos: A suicide bomb attack targets Kabul's diplomatic zone
A man wounded in the car bomb attack is treated at a hospital in Kabul.
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It was left in such bad shape that "you would have thought the explosion happened inside the office," the station's owner, Fahim Hashimy, told CNN.
Still, the station remained on air. "It was a bit of a miracle to be honest," Hashimy said.
The station is no stranger to security situations, having been previously threatened by the Taliban, according to Hashimy.
Within an hour and a half, the team improvised a set out of the damage in its studio, and they broadcast their first news program since the blast. It included footage gathered by Sediqi from Kabul's ground zero.
"If we didn't go on air with the news then the Islamic State, or whoever did it, would be very happy," Hashimy said.
By Wednesday evening, no group had claimed responsibility for the attack.
