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Taliban suicide bomber strikes Nato convoy in Afghanistan Nato troops killed in Taliban suicide blast in Afghanistan
(about 4 hours later)
A suicide bomber drove his explosives-packed Toyota Corolla into a Nato convoy in Kabul, tearing an armoured vehicle to shreds and killing at least three children and three other civilian passersby. A suicide bomber drove his explosives-packed Toyota Corolla into armoured SUVs carrying Nato troops and civilians through Kabul, killing six passengers and nine Afghan civilian passersby, two of them children.
The attacker, from a Taliban-linked militant group, struck in western Kabul at the height of the morning rush hour, with the blast being heard around the city. The attack was the deadliest in Kabul this year, ripping through morning traffic in the western side of the Afghan capital at the peak of the morning rush hour.
"Around 8 o'clock this morning two vehicles belonging to foreign advisers were bombed by a Corolla. They were badly damaged, along with 10 civilian cars, and another 20 vehicles in the area were lightly damaged," said Kabul's police chief, Ayoub Salangi. The blast was so loud it echoed across the city, and a huge plume of smoke rose from the debris as helicopters, US military vehicles and Afghan security services rushed to the site. Two Nato troops and four contractors were killed in the attack.
The bodies of the victims were so badly burned they could not be identified, said Qabir Amiri, spokesman for the city's hospitals. "There were 37 civilians wounded and six civilians killed. Three or four of them were children." "Around 8 o'clock this morning two vehicles belonging to foreign advisers were bombed by a Corolla. They were badly damaged, along with 10 civilian cars, and another 20 vehicles in the area were lightly damaged," said the Kabul police chief, Ayoub Salangi.
Nato dead and wounded would almost certainly have been taken to the coalition's own hospitals, and a spokesman would not comment on whether there had been any casualties. However, the lacerated remains of one heavily armoured vehicle suggested it would have been almost impossible for anyone inside to survive. The remains of one of the Nato vehicles, so twisted and lacerated it would have been impossible for anyone inside to survive, was still lying at the site of the attack when journalists were given permission to approach the scene several hours after the blast.
"We can only confirm that an explosion occurred on a coalition convoy in Kabul. We are currently gathering more facts," said a Nato spokesman. The bodies of Afghan victims were so badly burned they could not be identified, said Qabir Amiri, spokesman for the city's hospitals. The toll continued to mount through the day.
Police kept journalists back from the site of the attack for over an hour, while security forces cleaned up some of the debris, but even then the road was still scattered with pieces of reinforced steel and the charred remains of engines. "There were nine (Afghan) civilians killed, two of them children. Another 39 civilians were injured," said a health ministry spokesman, Dr Kanishka Turistani, in the early afternoon.
A Taliban-linked group, led by former mujahideen warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, claimed responsibility for the attack. A spokesman for Hizb-e-Islami, Haroon Zarghoon, told the Associated Press that one of the movement's operatives carried out the attack on what he described as two vehicles of American advisers. A Taliban-linked group, led by the former Mujahideen warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, claimed responsibility for the attack. A spokesman for Hizb-e-Islami, Haroon Zarghoon, said the group had attacked "American advisers" working in the city.
Additional reporting by Mokhtar Amiri.
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