Afghan bomb kills NATO troops

Friday's blast in an eastern district of Kabul struck a convoy of international troops, killing three NATO troops an injuring six Afghan citizens. The bombing occurred on a main road near a series of government compounds and close to NATO's Camp Phoenix base, on the way to the city of Jalalabad.

Television images showed the destroyed car of the attacker, and those of several other badly damaged vehicles, including an armored vehicle hit by the bomb [seen above].

A statement from the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) did not provide details on the identities or nationalities of those killed.

"Three International Security Assistance Force service members died following a suicide vehicle-borned improvised explosive device attack in Kabul, Afghanistan today," it said in a statement.

A witness told the news agency AFP that he saw foreign forces take away some of the bodies of the dead.

"I was in my bakery shop when I heard a bang that shattered all the windows. I saw at least two bodies lying on the street and covered in blood, then came two vehicles of foreign forces and the soldiers pulled out two bodies of foreigners from a damaged black SUV," said witness 'Mehmatullah.'

The Taliban has claimed responsibility for the attack.

"A martyrdom suicide attack took place in the 9th district of Kabul on a guesthouse of invading forces...a convoy of foreign forces was passing," Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said in a statement.

Friday's suicide bombing came two days after Taliban insurgents fired rockets at the US embassy compound in central Kabul on Wednesday. No one was killed or injured.

According to a tally kept by the news agency the Associated Press, 151 coalition troops have been killed in Afghanistan so far this year.

The Taliban has vowed to increase pressure on foreign forces and Afghan authorities before elections in April next year, and the withdrawal of NATO combat troops, scheduled for completion by the end of 2014.

jr/msh (AP, AFP)