Kabul suicide Bombing kills two
A suicide car bomb aimed at US-led coalition soldiers exploded Tuesday in an upmarket Kabul area that is home to foreign embassies and aid agencies, killing at least two Afghans, police said.
The insurgent Taliban movement claimed responsibility for the blast in the Wazir Akbar Khan district near the city centre, close to the Pakistan embassy and a World Bank building.
"It was a suicide bombing targeting foreigners," said Kabul criminal investigation police chief, General Alishah Paktiawal. "We have two martyrs. One was a passer-by and the other was a gate guard."
At least three other Afghan guards were also wounded, interior ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary said.
A guard outside World Bank premises was lightly hurt, a spokesman for the group told AFP, adding all the windows of the building were blown out.
The bomber's vehicle was reduced to its charred engine and the force of the explosion shattered windows for several streets.
The target was a US-led coalition convoy of armoured Landcruiser vehicles, two of which were badly damaged, an AFP reporter said.
"It was coalition soldiers. There were no injuries," coalition spokesman Lieutenant Colonel David Johnson told AFP.
One of the main spokesmen for the Taliban, Zabihullah Mujahed, said his group was responsible. Afghan media said the radical faction of former prime minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar had also claimed responsibility.
President Hamid Karzai's spokesman blamed the "enemies" of the country, a term that refers mainly to Taliban.
"This attack shows that the enemies of Afghanistan are waiting every second to disrupt the normal pace of life of our people," Homayun Hamidzada told reporters.
Walid Miran, in his late 20s, said he had parked his car steps away from the bombing site behind a wall when the blast hit.
"There was a huge light. Then the whole area turned dark like it was night. For several seconds I could hear glass, metal and sand dropping around me.
"As it got clear, I saw several people with bleeding faces running away," said the embassy employee, who was covered in dust.
A tailor, whose shop was 100 metres (yards) away, said: "The blast sent pieces of metal and flesh even to the front of my shop."
The suicide blast, the first in Wazir Akbar Khan in years, came a day after a bomb planted on a dust road used by Italian military forces on the outskirts of the capital tore apart a car, killing four Afghan men.
Police said it was not clear if Monday's attack was motivated by personal enmity or was the work of militants from the Taliban movement and other rebel outfits.
On Saturday a suicide bomber blew himself up as Italian military engineers worked on a footbridge in Paghman, a town 25 kilometres (15 miles) west of Kabul.
One Italian soldier and eight Afghans, three of them children, were killed. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack.
Suicide attacks and kidnappings, including of foreigners, have increased in and around Kabul in recent months, with the Taliban vowing to step up their use of both tactics in their campaign to topple the government and drive out its international allies.
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