Afghanistan bomb attacks

More than 15 killed in suicide bombings

Article published on the 2009-08-18 Latest update 2009-08-18 17:28 TU

Smoke rises from the scene of a suicide attack in Kabul on 18 August, 2009
(Photos: Reuters/Ahmad Masood)

A suicide car bomb in the capital Kabul has killed 15 civilians and left 55 people wounded. A rocket also landed near the presidential palace.

Just two days before the country’s presidential elections, a new spate of attacks are reported in Afghanistan.

Soldiers serving in the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) were killed and several wounded in a bomb attack in Kabul on Tuesday. "There have been some ISAF soldiers killed and several wounded," an ISAF press officer told the French news agency, AFP.

But the official was unable to give a breakdown of numbers or nationalities of the military casualties. Afghan officials said the suicide car bomb attack struck near a US military base on a key road leading east out of Kabul.

A defence ministry spokesman had said that the suicide car bomb targeted a supply convoy for the foreign forces in Afghanistan that was driving along the Bagram Road. Three Afghan staff working for the United Nations were among the approximately 25 injured, but their wounds were reported as slight.

The spokesman had originally described all the victims as civilians, as the car, he said, blew up near a bazaar.

This attack comes as the NATO-led force fighting the Taliban-led insurgency in Afghanistan announced Tuesday that it would suspend all offensive operations during this week's elections.

Meanwhile, rockets were fired at the presidential palace and at police headquarters in Kabul on Tuesday.

A spokesperson for President Hamid Karzai said that one had hit the outer perimeter of the presidential compound. He said there were no casualities and no damage.

Rockets were also fired into Jalalabad on Tuesday, the capital of Nangarhar province in the east of Afghanistan. Hospital sources say ten people are wounded. The Taliban claimed responsibility for this attack.

In the southern province of Uruzgan, the Taliban's main powerbase, a suicide bomber blew himself up at an Afghan military checkpoint 35 kilometres from Tirin Kot, the provincial capital. Three soldiers were killied and two civilians, five people were wounded.

The violence came on the same day that the Taliban renewed their call to disrupt presidential elections slated for Thursday and in which Karzai is the favourite to win..

"If anyone is harmed by mujahideen for participating in the process, they will be responsible themselves because the mujahideen have repeatedly issued warnings," a Taliban statement released to AFP said.

On Saturday seven people were killed at a NATO base in the Afghan capital. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack.