Taliban Suicide Bomber Hits NATO Convoy in Kabul, 2 Wounded

Six Taliban insurgents were also killed during the ensuing fighting at the checkpoint, he added. Two foreign soldiers suffered light wounds in that attack.

The Taliban launched its offensive in Afghanistan in April. “One detonated his explosives, two were shot dead by security forces”.

The Taliban claimed the attack in a message on their Twitter account.

One of the wounded was an Afghan civilian while the second person was from the convoy, said Gen. Abdul Rahman Rahimi, the city’s police chief who was at the scene of the blast.

North Atlantic Treaty Organisation confirmed the attack and said no foreign forces were killed. “There is fear of possible causalities”, a security source told Xinhua anonymously.

The discrepancy in the timing could not immediately be reconciled, however the officials both confirm that Afghan government representatives, including Deputy Foreign Minister Hekmat Karzai, had travelled to Pakistan for the meeting.

The Taliban’s proposal for formal talks have several hardline preconditions.

The Taliban last month admitted taking part in informal talks in Norway with an Afghan delegation, reportedly made up of women.

Many Afghans remain wary of Pakistan, however, blaming it for helping to bring the Taliban to power in the mid-1990s and supporting the militants after their ouster.

A week before that, insurgents launched a brazen attack on the Afghan parliament.

North Atlantic Treaty Organisation ended its combat mission against the militants at the end of December but a smaller force has stayed on for training and counter-terrorism operations.