A Taliban suicide bomber targeted an NATO convoy in Afghanistan’s capital Kabul on Monday, killing an Afghan civilian but causing no casualties among foreign troops, officials said.
The explosion struck around dawn in Kabul’s east, on the road to the city of Jalalabad, Afghan authorities said.
“A suicide bomber blew up his vehicle loaded with explosives in Qabil Bai,” deputy interior minister General Mohammad Ayub Salangi said in a tweet, adding that “one person was killed and three injured in this attack”.
A spokesman for NATO’s International Security Assistance Force said there were “no ISAF casualties” in the attack.
General Farid Afzali, head of the criminal police in Kabul, told AFP: “One Afghan civilian was martyred in today’s attack in Kabul, and three others were wounded who were working for a foreign company in the area, according to eyewitnesses.”
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed the responsibility for the attack in an email statement to the media.
“Around 7am (0230 GMT), a suicide bomber detonated his vehicle on a convoy of foreign troops who were passing by the area. As a result, more than ten foreign troops were killed and wounded.”
Taliban insurgents often exaggerate the death toll in attacks on Afghan security forces and NATO-led US troops in Afghanistan.
The last attack on NATO forces in Kabul was on September 16, also when a bomber rammed an explosives-laden car into a NATO convoy, triggering a massive blast that killed two Americans and one Polish soldier, and wounded a dozen civilians.
Kabul was also rocked two weeks ago by a series of suicide attacks staged during the inauguration of new president Ashraf Ghani. More than a dozen people were killed in several attacks on Afghan security forces.
About 40,000 NATO troops are serving in Afghanistan, but their combat mission is scheduled to finish at the end of this year, and the Taliban’s recent offensives have severely tested Afghan soldiers and police.
NATO’s follow-up mission, which will take over on January 1, will be made up of 9,800 US troops and about 3,000 soldiers from Germany, Italy and other member nations.