KABUL: Afghan police seized a lorry packed with explosives hidden under boxes of tomatoes in Kabul, officials said on Sunday, averting a potentially deadly blast months after a massive truck bomb killed or wounded hundreds.

Police shot and wounded the driver of the vehicle, carrying 30 yellow and orange plastic drums filled with explosive material and two bombs weighing 100 kilogrammes each, after he failed to stop at a security checkpoint late on Saturday, the interior ministry said.

“The driver wanted to flee with the truck from a police checkpoint but the police shot him. The driver was wounded and the truck stopped,” the ministry said in a statement.

A Western security source said that each 20-litre drum contained ammonium nitrate, which is also used to make fertiliser. The containers were connected by yellow electric cables, photographs showed.

The only thing missing was the device to detonate the explosives, he said.

Three police officers who stopped the truck have been rewarded with 30,000 Afghanis ($440) each and a promotion, acting Interior Minister Wais Barmak told reporters.

“The truck wanted to enter the centre of the city and target some government installations,” Barmak said.

“Anyone who shows courage to protect our people will be rewarded,” he said, adding more than a dozen other officers would also receive cash and promotions.

Security in the Afghan capital has been ramped up since May 31 when a massive truck bomb ripped through the city’s diplomatic quarter, killing about 150 and wounding around 400 people, mostly civilians.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack — the deadliest in the city since 2001 — which Western officials say was caused by more than 1,500 kg of explosives packed in a sewage truck.

The government has blamed the Taliban-allied Haqqani Network for the bombing. Taliban militants rarely claim responsibility for attacks that kill large numbers of civilians.

Published in Dawn, October 16th, 2017