Afghan Suicide Bomb Kills 12, Including Three American Contractors

Reports say the blast took place in the Macrorayon locality of downtown Kabul, when a suicide vehicle bomb was set off targeting the foreign forces convoy.

The relentless continuation of Taliban attacks – and the surge in violence that followed the transfer of security control from North Atlantic Treaty Organisation to Afghan forces at the end of 2014 – seems to have exhausted Ghani’s patience.

But the Kabul police chief, Abdul Rahman Rahmani, said in an interview at the scene that the casualty toll, which included women and children, was likely to rise because of all the injuries.

Corey Dodge, from Dexter Maine, was one of three American civilian contractors killed when a suicide bomber attacked a convoy of North Atlantic Treaty Organisation armored vehicles traveling through Kabul.

North Atlantic Treaty Organisation officials did not immediately comment on the blast, which prompted the heavily-fortified US embassy to sound its emergency sirens.

U.S. Col. Brian Tribus, a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation spokesman, said the three contractors had been killed, without elaborating. At least one of those killed is a foreigner.

A automotive bomb that exploded outdoors a personal hospital in Kabul has killed 12 individuals and wounded 105, in line with the Afghan Ministry of Public Well being.

The Taliban, who are fighting to re-establish hard-line Islamist rule more than 13 years after the U.S.-led military intervention toppled their regime, denied it was behind the attack.

Taliban-led insurgency has gotten momentum since April 24 when the armed group launched its so-called spring offensive in the militancy-plagued Afghanistan.

Bombings have increased in Kabul since the government and the Taliban in July confirmed that its leader Mullah Omar had died two years ago, putting paid to hopes that the insurgents would quickly return to the negotiating table.