Suicide bombing hits NATO convoy in Kabul, wounding 22 (Roundup)

Nov 13, 2009, 11:42 GMT

Kabul - A suicide bomber blew himself up in front of a US military base in the eastern part of the Afghan capital Kabul on Friday, injuring 22 people, including nine NATO soldiers, officials said.

The attack on Jalalabad Road, a locality that houses several international military bases and the scene of dozens of such attacks in the past, injured nine NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) soldiers and 10 civilian contractors, ISAF said in a statement.

The statement did not disclose the nationalities of the contractors.

Interior Ministry spokesman Zamarai Bashary confirmed that the blast was triggered by a suicide bomber, who was driving an explosive-packed vehicle.

Sayed Abdul Ghafar Sayedzada, the head of the police's criminal investigation department, said that the suicide attack injured three Afghans and destroyed four vehicles.

Taliban militants took responsibility for the attack in a statement posted at rebel website, claiming that the blast killed 20 US soldiers and injured 10.

The area near Camp Phoenix, a US military base, was sealed off by security forces for hours.

Taliban fighters rely heavily on the use of suicide and roadside attacks as part of their insurgency aimed at toppling the Western- backed Afghan government and forcing more than 100,000 foreign troops from Afghanistan.

The attack happened some two weeks after three Taliban suicide bombers, equipped with automatic rifles, stormed a United Nations guesthouse in downtown Kabul, killing five UN staff and three Afghans.

The late October attack forced the UN in Afghanistan to relocate 600 people, half of its international, staff from danger zones to safer locations inside the country and abroad.