Explosion in Kabul

At least 12 people have died after a suicide car bomber struck near a convoy of foreign soldiers in Afghanistan's capital Kabul on Saturday. The dead included three NATO contractors, the Associated Press reported officers from the organization as saying.

More than 60 were injured, foreign ministry spokesman Wahidullah Mayar told reporters.

The bomb was placed in a Toyota sedan parked near the private Shinozada hospital in Kabul's Macrorayan neighborhood.

"A car suicide bomber detonated his explosives in Police District 9, targeting a convoy of foreign troops," Najib Danish, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry, told the news agency DPA. A foreign forces vehicle was damaged badly in the blast, police said.

The dead included mostly civilians, Sayed Kabir Amiri, head of Kabul's hospitals department told reporters. "There could be more casualties," he added.

No organization claimed immediate responsibility for the explosion.

The United States embassy, which is a few kilometers away from the blast site, sounded its emergency sirens and loudspeakers broadcast "duck and cover" warnings.

The attack comes amid a series of bomb strikes by the Afghan Taliban, which has stepped up its summer offensive. The group has also begun peace talks with the government, mediated by Pakistan. However, the prospects of a deal are seen as slim after the extremist outfit recently confirmed its leader, Mullah Omar had died two years ago.

US and NATO troops ended their combat mission in Afghanistan last December, though some 13,000 troops have remained to train Afghan forces.

mg/se (AFP, dpa, AP, Reuters)