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Suicide bomb attack on Nato convoy in Kabul kills 10 Suicide bomb attack on Nato convoy in Kabul kills at least 11
(about 2 hours later)
Ten people have died after a suicide car bomber attacked a Nato convoy travelling through Kabul, with three of the dead understood to be foreign contractors. At least 11 people were killed and more than 60 wounded when a car bomb exploded outside a hospital in central Kabul on Saturday afternoon, the latest in a wave of attacks to hit the Afghan capital in recent weeks.
No group has claimed responsibility for the blast, but a Nato spokesman confirmed three foreigners had been killed, as well as Afghan civilians. Health ministry spokesman Wahidullah Mayar wrote on Twitter earlier in the day that 60 people had been injured. The suicide bomber, who is thought to have targeted a foreign convoy, killed three Nato contractors. The vast majority of casualties, however, were Afghan civilians.
The convoy was attacked as it passed through the busy district of Macrorayan, close to the private Shinozada civilian hospital. Interior ministry spokesman Najib Danish said the powerful blast had destroyed more than a dozen nearby vehicles. With more than 5,000 civilian casualties so far, 2015 is shaping up to be the most violent year for Afghan civilians since the war began in 2001.
The car bomb went off within a few miles of the US embassy, which sounded its emergency sirens, issuing a “duck and cover” warning to staff. US Colonel Brian Tribus, a spokesman for the international forces in Afghanistan, declined to disclose the nationality of the Nato contractors, but said one had died in the blast and two others had succumbed to injuries shortly thereafter.
Fraidoon Obaidi, the head of Kabul’s criminal investigation department, said an investigation had been launched. According to Reuters, the contractors worked for DynCorp International, an American private security firm with a long involvement in the war.
Taliban militants have launched a series of fatal attacks against the Afghan government in Kabul in recent weeks following a vicious leadership dispute after the death of Taliban figurehead Mullah Omar. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, which took place at 4.20pm in a busy street close to a market and residential housing complexes.
More than 50 people have so far died in the worst outbreak of violence in the Afghan capital for many years, in attacks that have targeted both service personnel and civilians. The bomb also damaged buildings, with the Shinozada private hospital worst hit. A religious school was also severely damaged, as was a school vehicle that was passing by. At least one woman and two children were among those killed in the attack, said Najib Danish of the interior ministry.
The first face-to-face talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban took place last month in Pakistan, but the militant group has distanced itself from the second round of discussions in the wake of Omar’s death and the ensuing power struggle. Kabir Amiri, spokesman for Kabul’s hospitals, said 11 people, including a foreigner, had been killed and 66 wounded, but he did not include at least two of the Nato contractors.
US-led Nato forces ended their mission in Afghanistan in December last year, though 13,000 troops remain for counter-terrorism operations and training. Related: It ain't over til it's over: America's wars drag on no matter what officials say | Trevor Timm
In the aftermath, bystanders and locals were calm but visibly angered.
“The people who did this are not Muslims,” said the manager of a burger shop on the hospital premises.
“The hospital was open and full of patients,” he said, adding that the patients had now been transferred to different health facilities, along with his cook who had been badly cut in the head.
Shams-ul Rahman, a prominent religious cleric, was on his way to a madrasa – a religious school – to teach a class of female Quran students when the bomb went off.
“Fortunately none of the students were hurt but the madrasa is 100% destroyed,” he said.
“I’m not naming any group, but whoever did this, they thought they targeted the foreigners but they hit the core of religion, the madrasa. I don’t think any of the students will ever come here again.”
Saturday’s bomb is the latest in a wave of attacks unleashed on the Afghan capital since the announcement in late July of the death of Taliban leader Mullah Omar.
His absence has plunged the insurgency into a power struggle, and, experts suggest, pushed the new leadership to assert its authority by ramping up violence.
Two weeks ago, in three separate attacks across Kabul, more than 50 people were killed and several hundred wounded in the worst civilian bloodshed in Afghanistan since the war began.
The carnage in Kabul has soured Afghanistan’s relations with neighbouring Pakistan. Afghan president Ashraf Ghani has gambled much political capital on improving relations with Pakistan, whose sway over the Taliban Ghani hopes can bring the Taliban to consider peace negotiations.
Before the announcement of Omar’s death, the insurgents seemed cautiously open to the idea.
But many Afghans consider Pakistan an arch-enemy for fomenting war and harbouring the Taliban. The recent violence has prompted Ghani to accuse the Pakistanis of sitting idly by while his people are being killed by insurgents.
Last week, Ghani dispatched a high-level delegation to Islamabad in another attempt to repair ties and salvage the nascent peace process.