2 killed in suicide blast at building rented by foreign security company in Afghan capital

2 killed in suicide blast in Afghan capital

KABUL, Afghanistan — Police say two suicide attackers struck a building rented by a private security company in Afghanistan’s capital, killing two drivers.

Senior Kabul police official Abdul Ghafar Sayedzada said Tuesday’s attack started with a gunbattle as the assailants tried to shoot their way into the compound in Kabul’s Taimani neighborhood.

The drivers died when the attackers then detonated their explosive vests.

Sayedzada said they worked for a foreign company, Hart Security.

Later, a group of men carried a dead body out of the building toward a waiting police truck. According to an Associated Press reporter, one of the men carrying the body was weeping.

Kabul is heavily fortified but has still been attacked multiple times this year by insurgents.

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

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — An explosion hit a residential area of Afghanistan’s capital Tuesday, the government said.

The blast occurred about 3:30 p.m. local time (1100 GMT, 7:00 a.m.) in the neighborhood of Taimani, just outside downtown, said Interior Ministry spokesman Zemeri Bashary.

Further details were not immediately available.

The Afghan capital is heavily fortified but has still been attacked multiple times this year by insurgents.

In one of the worst incidents in February, insurgents used a car bomb and militants in suicide vests to kill at least 16 people — half of them foreigners — in the heart of Kabul.

The Afghan government has since stepped up police checkpoints to create what it calls a “ring of steel” around the capital.

Rockets hit a national peace conference in June, and security officials have said they thwarted planned suicide attacks in Kabul during a recent international conference on the future of Afghanistan.