Taliban suicide attack kills 14 in Afghanistan

A suicide bomber tore through an Afghan-Nato foot patrol in a crowded city yesterday, killing at least 14 people, including three foreign troops and their interpreter, officials said.
Taliban insurgents claimed responsibility for the attack near a market in the eastern city of Khost. Four Afghan police and six civilians were also killed, and 57 were wounded, local officials said.
"Today at around 8:30 am a suicide bomber on a motorcycle targeted a joint patrol in Khost city in a crowded area.
"Six civilians and four police, including the commander of the quick reaction forces, were killed," the governor's office said in a statement, while the interior ministry said 57 people were wounded.
Nato's US-led International Security Assistance Force confirmed that three Nato service members and an ISAF-contracted interpreter had been killed in the attack.
The Taliban Islamists said on their website that the suicide attack was carried out by "a hero mujahid, Shohaib, from Kunduz", claiming that eight foreigners and six Afghan soldiers were killed.
The deaths take coalition casualties to at least 347 this year, according to an AFP tally. Nato has more than 100,000 troops fighting the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan, but they are due to pull out by the end of 2014.