Suicide bomber strikes near Kabul airport

At least two people were killed and 18 wounded when a powerful suicide blast struck during the peak hour morning rush on Sunday, an Afghan official said.

European Union Police Mission in Afghanistan (EUPOL) spokeswoman, Sari Haukka-Konu, said one non-mission member who was travelling in an EUPOL vehicle was killed in the blast. Haukka-Konu did not provide details on the nationality or identity of the deceased.

"All mission members who were in the vehicle are in a safe place and their injuries are not believed to be fatal," the spokeswoman told the Associated Press news agency.

"A non EUPOL person inside the vehicle is deceased."

Kabul police spokesperson Ebadullah Karimi said two Afghan women were killed when the bomb detonated.

"The target of the attacker was the foreign forces convoy. So far we have two women dead," he said, adding that three children were among the injured. It is not clear if that death toll included the person killed in the EUPOL vehicle.

"A suicide bomber detonated his Toyota sedan targeting a foreign forces convoy near Kabul airport today at 0900 am," Karimi told news agency AFP.

Deputy interior ministry spokesperson, Najib Danish said the bombing occurred inside the major checkpoint leading into the capital's main airport.

"A suicide bomber detonated his explosives near a foreign troop's vehicle in police district 9, near Kabul airport," Danish added.

"Three civilian vehicles, one of them belonging to foreign troops are damaged at the site of the attack," he added.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, though Taliban insurgents have launched a wave of attacks across the country since the downgrading of foreign troops numbers in Afghanistan last year.

jlw/bw (Reuters, AFP,dpa, AP)