Three killed, 102 wounded in Afghan military base bombing

Sep 11, 2011, 10:17 GMT

Kabul - Three Afghan civilians, including an interpreter for NATO-led forces, were killed, and 102 others injured, when an explosive-laden truck was detonated in front of a foreign military base in central Afghanistan, officials said Sunday.

The NATO-led forces in a statement confirmed that a Taliban suicide bomber had detonated a large vehicle-borne explosives device at the entrance of Combat Outpost Sayed Abad, causing significant number of injuries. 'Seventy-seven ISAF personnel and less than 25 Afghan civilians have received non-life-threatening injuries' the NATO statement said.

The driver, whose truck was carrying firewood, detonated his explosives late Saturday at the Outpost's entry control point, the statement read. The base is in Sayed Abad district of Maidan Wardak province.

'As a result of the explosion, an Afghan interpreter and a guard for coalition forces and a civilian were killed' Shahidullah Shahid, the provincial governor's spokesman, said. Coalition forces put the death toll at two Afghan civilians.

He said foreign soldiers and Afghan guards with the base were also injured.

The Taliban took responsibility for the attack, which came one day before the 10th anniversary of September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.

Separately, a roadside bomb in northern Afghanistan killed five civilians, including three children who were travelling in a vehicle, Kunduz police chief Samiullah Qatra said. Another civilian was injured in the explosion.

Meanwhile, six civilians were killed and nine others were injured on Saturday when a civilian vehicle struck a roadside bomb in the eastern province of Paktika.

'A passenger vehicle struck a roadside bomb in Barmal district of eastern province of Paktika province yesterday, killing six civilians, including two women and injuring nine others,' Mukhles Afghan, the spokesman for the governor, said.

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