Ten dead in Kabul suicide bombing
Updated on 18 August 2009
A Taliban suicide bomber kills 10 people in Kabul after ramming a car laden with explosives into a Nato convoy.
The attack happened in eastern Kabul on the Jalalabad road, a main route through the city frequently targeted by Taliban insurgents.
Earlier, two rockets were fired – one at the presidential palace and another at a nearby police station. No-one was injured but it was another brazen attack in the centre of the Afghan capital.
Among the dead in the suicide bomb attack, two Afghans working for the UN and an unspecified number of Nato troops.
"It happened in front of my shop," said Abdul Aziz, a local shopkeeper. "I saw four bodies there and my son's been injured."
Many British ambulances arrived, their base nearby. The nationalities of the dead soldiers was unclear. British troops were tense, nervous.
It was an unthinkable breach of security when Nato is meant to be keeping Afghans safe ahead of Thursday's presidential polls.
Hospitals were filled with over 50 injured as Afghan officials asked the media to not report violence on election day. But it is becoming impossible to hide or ignore.
The morning began with rocket attacks, causing damage to the presidential palace's compound and Kabul's main police station.
No-one injured, but with this attack on Nato the insurgency's message is again clear to Afghans: we can hit Nato where it is meant to be strongest, so be sure to listen when we say we will hit polling stations too on Thursday.
