3rd LD writethru: 4 killed in car bombing near airport in Afghan capital
Xinhua, May 17, 2015 Adjust font size:
Four people were killed and several others wounded when a suicide car bomb exploded near the airport of the Afghan capital Kabul on Sunday, sources and witnesses said.
The blast took place after one attacker detonated his car bomb close to a military convoy belonged to EUPOL (European Union Police Mission in Afghanistan), which is in charge of training Afghan police forces, a security source told Xinhua at the site.
One EUPOL personnel aboard the vehicle and two passers-by were killed in addition to the attacker by the blast, the source said anonymously.
The nationality of the foreigner killed in the attack remained unknown.
"Nearly 20 people were wounded. Eight women and three children were among the injured. Some civilians sustained injuries inside their houses by shattered glasses," the source said, noting the injured were shifted to nearby hospitals.
The number of casualties might go higher, he said.
"The attack occurred at around 9:06 a.m. (0436 GMT) in Hawa Shinasi road near the military part of the Kabul international airport," witness Sayyied Jafar told Xinhua.
The blast also damaged several shops and houses as well as vehicles in the area.
The government troops cordoned off the area shortly after the blast, keeping people from gathering at the scene for fears that there might be a second blast.
No group has claimed responsibility yet for the attack, but the Taliban insurgent group routinely claims responsibility for such attacks.
The Taliban-led insurgency has been rampant since April 24 when the militant group launched its so-called annual spring offensive in different places of Afghanistan which had claimed hundreds of lives including militants, security personnel and civilians.
The Taliban urged civilians to stay away from official gatherings, military convoys and centers regarded as the legitimate targets by militants besides warning people not to support the government.
Some 974 civilian were killed while 1,963 injured in the first four months of the year, a 16 percent increase over the same period of last year, according to UN mission officials in the country. Endi