KABUL, May 2: At least six people were killed in a suicide car bomb attack in the Afghan capital today, officials said, hours after US President Barack Obama left Kabul following an unannounced visit during which he signed a strategic partnership agreement.
The blast, and Obama’s visit, came a year after U.S. special forces troops killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, the architect of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, in a raid in neighbouring Pakistan.
The Taliban, ousted by U.S.-backed Afghan forces for harbouring bin Laden and other militants, quickly claimed responsibility for what it said was a suicide car bomb attack.
Today’s attack was the latest in a recent surge of violence after the Taliban announced they had begun their usual “spring offensive”, and that they had suspended tentative steps towards peace talks with the United States.
Kabul police chief Ayoub Salangi said six people, a Gurkha guard and five passers-by, were killed in the Kabul attack.
Salangi told Reuters a car bomb exploded on Jalalabad road, the main road out of the capital heading east, where several US military bases and compounds housing Westerners are located.
He said one of those compounds, known as “Green Village”, was the target. A plume of black smoke was seen rising from inside the area.
(AGENCIES)
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