The Taliban claimed responsibility for a large suicide car bomb that killed seven people today in the heart of the Afghan capital's most secure district five days before an election the Islamist group has vowed to disrupt.
Afghanistan's Defence Ministry said at least 7 people were killed and nearly 100 wounded in the blast outside the sprawling headquarters of the NATO-led international force, near the US embassy, in Kabul.
The bomber set off the device at about 8:30 a.m. when Afghan soldiers stopped him outside the concrete barriers set in the street to protect the gate of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's International Security Assistance Force.
It shattered the front of the less-protected Afghan transport ministry across the street and smashed windows at the Spanish ambassador’s home and Afghan shops down the street.
Some NATO troops guarding the gate were injured, according to soldiers at the scene. Most of those hurt were transport ministry employees arriving for work. Several Afghan boys who sell handicrafts and chewing gum to foreigners also were injured, police officers said.
A spokesman for the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) confirmed some ISAF casualties, while an official with the Afghan Ministry of Transport, whose headquarters bore the brunt of the blast, said dozens of employees were hurt by flying glass.
"Unfortunately, there are casualties," said Canadian Brigadier General Eric Tremblay, an ISAF spokesman. "I am not going to go into numbers. There's Afghan civilians and there are ISAF military." The blast shattered windows in the area and shook buildings in the Wazir Akbar Khan district, home to most major foreign embassies and organisations in the capital.
It also rattled confidence in an Aug. 20 presidential election which pits incumbent Hamid Karzai against 35 challengers. Two recent polls have Karzai with a comfortable lead over his nearest challenger Abdullah Abdullah, but not enough to avoid a second round run-off.
President Karzai condemned the attack but said it would not stop Afghans from voting.
"The enemies of Afghanistan try to create fear among people in this election period but people still realise the importance of going to ballot boxes to cast their votes," Karzai was quoted as saying in a statement from the presidential palace.
The Taliban, stronger than at any time since they were driven from power eight years ago, have vowed to strike polling stations and threatened reprisals against voters.
"The target was the US embassy, but we could not reach it," Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told Reuters by telephone from an undisclosed location.
Violence has surged recently, with Taliban fighters staging a handful of bold attacks on provincial government buildings in the south and east, and also launching raids in once-quiet areas in the north and west.
Today's suicide bomb attack was the first in Kabul since January, when the German embassy was targeted.
Taliban fighters also stormed government buildings in the capital on Feb. 11, killing 19 people in an audacious commando-style attack.
Kabul has also recently come under attack by rockets. The vehicle carrying today's bomb appeared to have got through two lightly manned checkpoints before attempting to drive the wrong way through a major reinforced security post, where it was stopped.
ISAF's Tremblay said the suicide bomber "entered our defensive system and was blocked by the Afghan army" and then decided to detonate the vehicle. "It was an isolated attack. It's not a complex attack," he said.
The election is a test for US President Barack Obama's strategy of rushing thousands of extra troops to Afghanistan to tip the balance in an 8-year-old war some in Washington admitted this year they were not winning.
Some 30,000 extra US troops have already arrived this year, pushing the total Western force above 100,000 for the first time, including 62,000 Americans.
Foreign troop commanders say they will provide perimeter security for the elections, with security at polling stations the responsibility of Afghan forces and police.
Reuters