KABUL, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- At least 12 people, including eight foreigners, were killed Tuesday morning in a suicide car bombing in Afghan capital Kabul, the police said.
"A suicide bomber rammed his explosive-laden vehicle into a minibus carrying foreign staffs of a local company at around 6:45 local time (0215 GMT) Tuesday, killing eight foreigners and a local driver named Ahmad Zia on the spot," head of criminal investigation department of Kabul police, Gen. Mohammad Zahir, told Xinhua.
The nationalities of the victims were not clear at the moment. A foreign woman was among the killed as seen by a Xinhua reporter.
"The killed foreigners were looking like western people. I saw them when police forces were transporting the dead by vehicles and ambulances," a witness told Xinhua, adding that as the bus arrived in the main road from a lane another vehicle hit it and a big bang was heard.
Meantime, Zhair said that three passers-by were also killed and two security officials were injured by the bombing that took place along the main road, leading to airport in Kabul's sub-district 15.
He said more details will be released to the media after the investigation is concluded.
The blast caused a plume of grey smoke to rise above the scene.
Several buildings and wedding halls near the site were also damaged by the blast.
The government troops immediately cordoned off the area shortly after the blast.
Meantime, Hezb-e-Islami of Afghanistan, the second largest insurgent group, in the country claimed the responsibility for the attack.
A spokesman with the Hezb-e-Islami, with Gulbuddin Hakmatyar as its leader, told local media via phone that a woman suicide bomber of the group targeted and killed nine foreigners in retaliation for an anti-Islam film produced by an American entity recently in the United States.
Up to 40 policemen, including police chief of Kabul Mohammad Ayub Salangi, were injured when angry Afghans held demonstrations in Kabul to condemn the anti-Islam film on Monday morning.
|
