Suicide bomb hits Nato troops in Kabul, 18 die

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A suicide car bomb attack targeted Nato troops in the Afghan capital on Tuesday, killing up to 18 people near Parliament in one of the deadliest strikes on Kabul in more than a year, officials said.
The Taliban, the militia leading a nearly nine-year insurgency against the Western-backed government and US-led military in Afghanistan, claimed responsibility for the attack.
The bomber reduced the busy rush hour to blood and chaos on a clogged street near Parliament, a hospital run by foreigners, an Army recruitment centre and the ministry of water and energy. The American University of Afghanistan is just across the road and the Kabul museum about 100 metres away.
The Nato International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) confirmed one of its convoys had been hit and said a casualty assessment was underway. “An ISAF convoy was hit. At the moment we’re trying to confirm the number of ISAF casualties,” spokesman Lieutenant Commander Iain Baxter told AFP. Asked if he could confirm any ISAF casualties, the spokesman said: “We’re still confirming how many ISAF casualties have been caused.” Interior ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary said at least 12 civilians were killed and 47 others wounded, most of whom had been travelling in a bus that passed when the suicide bomber blew up a car packed with explosives.
Children and women were among the dead and wounded, Bashary said. Afghan Army Chief military doctor, General Ahmad Zia Yaftali said at least 18 people died. “We have five bodies brought to our hospital so far... the number of the dead is more than 18,” Yaftali said. Ambulances were seen speeding off carrying the wounded through Kabul streets heavily clogged with traffic, an AFP reporter said.