A suicide car bombing outside the main NATO military base in the Afghan capital, killED three civilians and wounded 70 others.
A suicide car bombing outside the main NATO military base in the Afghan capital, metres away from the US embassy, today killing three civilians and wounded 70 others, with casualties reported among the alliance force, an officer said, without giving details.
There were casualties among the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) as well as some Afghan civilians, said ISAF spokesman Brigadier General Eric Tremblay. The explosion came just a week before the crucial Afghan presidential poll.
The Afghan defence ministry said earlier that three people were killed and 70 wounded. The dead were taken to an Afghan military hospital, a ministry spokesman said, suggesting they were Afghans and not foreign nationals.
"The bomber was stopped by Afghan security at the first gate," he said.
The explosion was outside the main gate of the ISAF headquarters, where hundreds of troops from various countries are stationed.
The headquarters is located just 200 meters away from the presidential palace and is very near to embassies of the US, India and Spain.
A spokesman for the Taliban, Zabihullah Mujahed, said the attack was carried out by a member of the militia.
The man had "detonated some 500 kilogrammes (1,100 pounds) of explosives packed into a Surf vehicle (SUV) outside the US embassy," he said.
The spokesman claimed: "Twenty-five Americans and other guards and workers for embassy were killed."
It was the first suicide attack on the city in months, following a spate of such blasts last year claimed by the Taliban and other insurgent groups.
Eight rockets struck the Afghan capital last Tuesday, including one that landed near the US embassy, wounding a man and a child, the government said, raising tensions ahead of the elections.
The NATO base includes the living quarters and offices of General Stanley McChrystal, the US commander of more than 100,000 international troops in Afghanistan.
About 6,200 ISAF troops are stationed in Kabul at various bases.
A health ministry spokesman said 57 wounded, including 12 women and a child, were in the main civilian hospital. Most of them had superficial wounds, he said.
Another two dozen wounded were in the military hospital, a defence ministry official said.
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