Afghanistan bomb kills 14 including three foreign troops

Six civilians and an Afghan interpreter also died in the attack, Reuters reported.

There were conflicting reports about casualties and injuries after a suicide bomber in a police uniform struck. Provincial Governor Abdul Jabar Nahimi told Reuters the bomber had been riding a motorcycle packed with explosives and 37 civilians were wounded in the blast.

Witnesses said the target was a joint convoy of NATO Afghan security forces near the police headquarters.

The Afghan Taliban claimed responsibility, although Afghan insurgents are quick to claim any successful attack on foreign troops as their own.

Suicide attack

“It was a suicide attack on foot,” Colonel Yaqub, the deputy provincial police chief, told the AFP news agency.

An ISAF spokesman said details of the incident were unclear on Monday morning.

The deaths take coalition fatalities to at least 347 this year. The dead included a NATO-contracted interpreter and six civilians, Al Jazeera’s Bernard Smith reported from Kabul.

The explosion came a day after Nato announced that a firefight between coalition troops and their Afghan allies killed an ISAF soldier, a civilian contractor and three Afghan army troops. The incident was variably described as a suspected “insider attack” or insurgent fire or a verbal argument between the troops.

Insider attacks by members of the Afghan security forces against Nato allies have resulted in 52 deaths this year among foreign forces and this month prompted a tightening of rules for joint patrols between coalition and Afghan forces.