NATO says 6 service members killed in suicide bombing in Afghan capital

NATO says 6 service members killed in Kabul attack

KABUL, Afghanistan — NATO says six of its service members have been killed in Tuesday’s suicide car bombing in the Afghan capital.

The military alliance did not give details on the nationalities of the dead. Afghan officials have said the bombing also killed at least 12 Afghan civilians and injured 47.

NATO said in a statement that the explosion damaged five of its vehicles and more than a dozen civilian vehicles.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A suicide car bomb blast ripped through a NATO convoy and public bus in the heavily fortified Afghan capital early Tuesday, killing at least 12 people including five foreigners, officials said.

A NATO spokesman said there were casualties among NATO forces but declined to give specifics about dead or injuried. Lt. Commander Iain Baxter with the British Royal Navy said the alliance could not confirm if the convoy was the target of the attack or was caught up in a blast aimed at something else.

The area around the blast site also is home to Afghan government buildings, including the Ministry of Energy and Water.

At least 47 people were wounded in the attack, the Interior Ministry said. No group immediately claimed responsibility.

It was the first major attack in Kabul since February when suicide bombers struck two small hotels in the city center. That attack killed 16 people and led Afghan police to pledge that they would tighten security and surveillance.

Police have publicized a number of arrests of would-be bombers since then, but Tuesday’s bombing was a reminder that the city’s defenses can still be penetrated by determined attackers.

Initial reports of the explosion in western Kabul indicated that U.S. vehicles were targeted, said Abdul Ghafor Sayedzada, the chief of the city police’s criminal investigation unit.

The Interior Ministry said the 12 killed and 47 wounded that it had counted were all civilians, most of them from a public bus that was hit in the explosion. The ministry did not give details on nationalities, but Kabul Deputy Police Chief Mohammad Khalil Dastyar said five of the dead and five of the wounded were foreigners. He did not provide nationalities.

Seventeen vehicles were damaged in the blast, Dastyar told reporters.

President Hamid Karzai said at a news conference that the bomber was targeting NATO forces.

“Today in the morning we had a tragic incident, which was a suicide attack. The bomber attacked on the NATO forces. There were casualties among the NATO forces as well as among civilians — women, children and schoolchildren,” Karzai said as he condemned the attack.

An Associated Press reporter on the scene saw the wreckage of a public bus and four sport utility vehicles. The SUVs were painted beige and grey but no markings identifying them as American were immediately discernable. At least one of the vehicles had a large antenna mounted on it of the type commonly used by foreign governments or international contractors in Afghanistan. NATO forces also sometimes use this type of unmarked SUV in the city.

The U.S. Embassy also declined to comment on whether any of their vehicles were involved in the attack.

The Feb. 26 attack against two residential hotels killed six Indians, along with 10 Afghans. Afghan authorities blamed the attack on Lashkar-e-Taiba, the same Pakistan-based Islamist militia that India blames for the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks that killed 166 people.

Associated Press Writer Heidi Vogt contributed to this report.