Kabul blast hits embassy vehicle
Kabul blast hits embassy vehicle
Briton among 6 killed
A suicide bomber rammed his explosives-packed car into a British embassy vehicle in Kabul yesterday, killing one Briton and five Afghans in the latest attack to highlight fragile security as Nato troops withdraw.
A British security contractor and an Afghan employee of the embassy died in the blast, which hit their vehicle on a stretch of road notorious for suicide attacks.
At least four Afghan bystanders were also killed, and more than 30 others were injured.
"I am deeply saddened to confirm that a British national civilian security team member and an Afghan national working for the embassy were killed," British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said in London.
"I condemn this appalling attack on innocent civilians supporting our diplomatic activity."
A second British contractor with the G4S firm was injured in the bombing, which threw the embassy's 4x4 vehicle onto its side.
The roof was blown off and car parts scattered across the Jalalabad road, a main route where many fortified foreign compounds and military facilities are located.
It has often been the scene of insurgent strikes, and attacks across the city have increased in recent weeks.
At least seven blasts have hit Kabul over the last 10 days, including attacks on foreign compounds and on a female Afghan MP who was injured in a suicide bombing that targeted her car. The Taliban said they were behind yesterday's blast in a message on a recognised Twitter account.
At the site, an AFP reporter saw one badly-shaken foreign passenger talking to Afghan police, asking after his colleagues.
A nearby policeman said that passengers covered in blood had been taken to hospital.
The attack -- three days after two US soldiers were killed in another bombing in Kabul -- comes as US-led Nato forces prepare to end their 13-year combat mission against the Taliban next month.