Afghan officials have raised the death toll to 38 people following a bomb attack at a hospital in Afghanistan.
The United Nations said the hospital's maternity ward was badly damaged in Saturday's blast, and many of the victims were women and children.
Dozens of people were also wounded, officials said. Estimates of the casualties, which included patients and medical staff, varied widely as chaos enveloped the facility in Azra district of eastern Logar province, which is just south of capital Kabul.
The bomber had been driving an "SUV packed with explosives," officials said.
"The target of the blast is not clear but what is obvious is that a hospital was attacked and civilians were killed ... The casualties are all patients, their visitors and relatives and hospital personnel." Deen Mohammad Darwish, a spokesman for the Logar provincial government, said.
Mohammad Zaref Nayebkhail, the provincial health director, said the death toll could be significantly higher than initial estimates as many people had come to the scene quickly after the blast and removed the bodies of their relatives.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid denied responsibility for the attack. "We condemn this attack on a hospital ... whoever has done this wants to defame the Taliban," he said.
PHOTO CAPTION
An injured Afghan man, a victim of a blast lies in a hospital bed in Kunduz city in the northern province of Kunduz, Afghanistan, Saturday, June 25, 2011.
Al-Jazeera