Afghan Rebel Rocket Kills 35 in Deadliest Attack in Kabul

KABUL, Afghanistan — A rocket fired by Afghan guerrillas exploded near a crowded bus station in Kabul during the evening rush hour, killing at least 35 people and wounding 156 in the bloodiest guerrilla attack on the capital in the nine-year-old civil war, Soviet sources and the Tass news agency said Wednesday.

The attack Tuesday came as Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard A. Shevardnadze hinted that the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan was jeopardized by arms supplies to the U.S.-backed rebels. Wednesday, he was called home early to Moscow to attend an urgent meeting of the Central Committee.

The Soviet sources in Kabul said that 16 rockets fired by the guerrillas hit Kabul Tuesday, with one of them exploding between the crowded bus station and a row of taxis in the heart of the city.

The sources and the Tass agency, monitored in Moscow, said the blast killed 35 people and wounded 156 others. Doctors said the death toll was going up by the hour, with many of the injured in critical condition.

Six people were injured in other rocket attacks in the city.

The sources said Tuesday’s downtown rocket attack was the bloodiest ever on Kabul by the guerrillas, who are armed by the United States, China and Iran in their war against the Soviet-backed government.

“It was the most terrible thing I have ever seen,” said one doctor during a break from an all-night shift treating the wounded at Kabul’s Jamhoriat Hospital. “Men, women, boys, children. It was just one big bloody mess.”

“Why are (the guerrillas) doing this to us?” asked one distressed merchant waiting for the body of his 20-year-old daughter.

‘What to Live For?’

“My family is gone,” mumbled a middle-aged teacher tearfully. “What do I have to live for?”

“They talk a lot about peace,” another man at the hospital interjected, “but the rockets are coming every day. This is the reality.”

Tuesday’s attack was the second in as many days on Kabul. Afghan sources said 11 people were killed, including nine children in a school, and 11 wounded Monday when guerrillas fired about a dozen rockets at the city.

Rebel shelling and rocketing of the capital and other major cities has increased since the May 15 start of the withdrawal of Soviet troops. Moscow invaded Afghanistan in December, 1979, to support the Marxist government against Muslim rebels.

Western diplomats say the attacks are designed to demonstrate to civilians that the government can no longer protect them.