Afghan bomber kills 14 in ISAF attack

1 Oct 2012, 7:11 pm   -   Source: AAP

An Afghan suicide bomber on a motorcycle has killed at least 14 people, including three NATO soldiers, in an attack claimed by the Taliban.

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A suicide bomber riding a motorcycle packed with explosives has rammed into a foot patrol of Afghan and international forces in eastern Afghanistan, killing at least 14 people, including three NATO service members and their translator.

Four Afghan police and six civilians were also killed, and 37 were wounded in the attack near a market in the eastern city of Khost, the provincial governor's office said.

The bomber struck a group of Afghan police and international troops shortly after they got out of their vehicles to walk through a market area in Khost city, the capital of Khost province, said provincial government spokesman Baryalai Wakman.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the blast, which came a day after the US death toll in the war in Afghanistan reached 2000 troops and as relations between international forces and their Afghan partners have been pushed to the breaking point by a surge in insider attacks by Afghan allies.

"Today at around 8.30am (1400 AEST), a suicide bomber on a motorcycle targeted a joint patrol in Khost city in a crowded area.

"In this inhuman attack three police and 37 civilians were wounded, and six civilians and four police, including the commander of the quick reaction forces, were killed," the governor's office said in a statement.

Hospital sources put the number of Afghan dead at 10 with more than 60 wounded.

NATO's US-led International Security Assistance Force confirmed that three NATO service members and an ISAF-contracted interpreter had been killed in the attack.

The Taliban Islamists said on their website that the suicide attack was carried out by "a hero mujahid, Shohaib, from Kunduz", claiming that eight foreigners and six Afghan soldiers were killed.

Blood could be seen on the market road as Afghan police and soldiers tried to clean up the area after the blast. Slippers and bicycle parts were strewn about.

"I heard the explosion and came right to this area. I saw the dead bodies of policemen and of civilians right here," said policeman Hashmat Khan, who ran to the site of the blast from his job as security for a nearby bank.

Coalition spokesman Major Adam Wojack would only confirm that three NATO service members and their translator died in a bombing in the east on Monday, without giving an exact location or the nationalities of the dead.

The international military alliance usually waits for individual nations to announce details on deaths.

Most of the troops in the east and in Khost province are American. It was not immediately clear if the translator was an Afghan citizen or a foreigner, Wojack said.

Dozens of Afghan civilians were also wounded in the bombing.

The city's hospital was treating about 30 people injured in the explosion, said Dr Amir Pacha, a physician working there. He added there could be other victims being treated at nearby private clinics.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said in text messages to media that the insurgent group was behind the attack.

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