A suicide car bomb targeting a foreign forces convoy in the eastern part of the Afghan capital left at least one civilian dead and injured nine others just days after the authorities unveiled plans for Taliban peace talks, the interior ministry said.
Extensive damage to the facades of nearby houses could be seen with debris scattered on pavements as witnesses reported a strong explosion. Security forces rushed to the scene as passers-by helped move the wounded, with witnesses complaining to AFP that ambulances took around half an hour to arrive.
"Unfortunately around 9:00 am, a car bombing took place in (the) Qabil Bay area of Kabul. The target of the attack was a foreign forces convoy," ministry spokesman Najib Danish told AFP, adding that police are investigating.
NATO's Resolute Support mission in Kabul told the news agency that it was checking if there had been any foreign casualties in the blast.
A health ministry spokesman confirmed that a child was killed and at least nine were injured, all civilians.
But a security source said up to 12 people had been wounded.
No group immediately claimed the attack, which is the latest to hit Kabul, one of the deadliest places in Afghanistan for civilians as both the Taliban and the expanding ISIS step up their assaults on the city.
The recent attacks have underscored the weaknesses of Afghan security forces.
Friday’s bombing comes just two days after Afghan President Ashraf Ghani unveiled a plan for peace talks with the Taliban “to save the country,” including a proposal to eventually recognize them as a political party.
Separately, the Taliban said Friday they released five of a total of 19 people they say they abducted on Tuesday along the boundary between the southern Kandahar and Uruzgan provinces.
At the time, Gen. Abdul Raziq, Kandahar's police chief, said insurgents wearing army uniforms stopped a bus and abducted 30 people. There was no information on the fate of the others.
