ISAF soldiers among 12 killed in Kabul attack

A dozen people, including NATO soldiers and contractors, were killed and 37 others wounded on Thursday when an explosives-laden car ploughed into a foreign military convoy in Kabul, officials and witnesses said. “Two International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) service members and four contracted civilians died following an improvised explosive device attack in Kabul today,” the NATO-led force said. In line with its policy, the NATO-led force did not reveal the victims’ nationalities. Six Afghans civilians were killed and 37 others wounded in the attack that happened close to the residence of a parliamentarian in the Shah Shaheed locality at around 8am when the ISAF convoy was passing the area, Pajhwok Afghan News (PAN) reported Kabul police chief Brig. Gen. Mohammad Ayub Salangi told journalists at the scene although the numbers were not immediately known, the powerful blast caused casualties to civilians and those carried by the convoy. Gen. Salangi added 30 vehicles, including two of foreigners, and dozens of houses were destroyed in the bombing. Columns of smoke billowed from the site in eastern Kabul, he added. Public Health Ministry official Dr. Kabir Amiri confirmed six dead bodies and 37 injured people, including civilians, had been evacuated to various hospitals in the capital. The dead were charred beyond recognition. Some children and a woman were among the injured. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the blast had caused civilian casualties, but provided no figures. A Pajhwok reporter at the scene said Wolesi Jirga member Gul Padshah Majidi’s residence and an Azizi Bank branch were located in the area. The area was cordoned off by security forces, said witness Mohammad Pervez, who added: “The explosion was very powerful. I saw many injured people lying on the ground as I came out of my house.” The Hezb-i-Islami Party (HIA), led by Gulbadin Hekmatyar, claimed responsibility for the attack. The group spokesman, Haroon Zarghoon, identified the suicide bomber as Qari Qudratullah from central Logar province. International Security Assistance Force spokesman Quenton Roehricht told a foreign news agency they had no information if the foreigners had suffered any casualties.