Militants fighting Afghan government and international troops based in Afghanistan in their latest wave of violence carried out a suicide car bombing in the capital city of Kabul Sunday morning, wounding four persons, a police officer with Crime Investigation Department said.
"One suicide bomber in a car blew himself up near a convoy of international troops in the western outskirts of Kabul city, injuring at least four," the officer told Xinhua but refused to be named.
He also added that the target was a convoy of international troops but failed to say if the victims were civilians or soldiers, saying only "We have yet to determine who the injured men are."
Meantime, locals at the site said that the convoy of French soldiers was attacked by a car rider whose body had been scattered in the blast.
On the other hand, the Afghan Interior Ministry in a press release said that two civilians were injured in the attack while there were no casualties on the international troops. It also put the attack on the enemies of peace, a term used against Taliban outfit.
Neither officials from the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) nor officers from the U.S.-led Coalition were immediately available to make comment.
Taliban purported spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the attack, saying fighters of Islamic Emirate, the official name of Taliban ousted regime carried out the attack.
Over 5,000 people have been killed by conflicts and riots in the past 2008, while the figure is predicted to go up in 2009 as more U.S. troops being deployed in the war-torn country.
(Xinhua News Agency February 1, 2009)