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Latest bombing in Kabul kills German troops in transit bus

A bomb ripped through a bus carrying German peacekeepers through Kabul yesterday, killing as many as six people and wounding about 11 in what appeared to be the deadliest attack on the international force.

The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) bus was traveling from the airport toward eastern Kabul, near the city's customs house when the bomb exploded, Kabul Police Chief Basir Salangi told The Associated Press.

"Some foreign people have died and some have been injured," Salangi said. He said he believed five or six people had been killed and about 11 wounded.

General Abdul Raouf Taj, the police chief in District Nine of the Afghan capital, said he believed the bomb had exploded near the bus.

Major Sarah Wood, an ISAF spokeswoman, confirmed there were casualties aboard the vehicle, "some of which we believed are ISAF," but she wouldn't say who or how many. "Our priority is to get them medical assistance as soon as possible," she said.

As she spoke, a large German military helicopter landed in the road near the site of the explosion and not far from the base that houses German and Dutch troops in Afghanistan.

Soon after the explosion, dozens of German peacekeepers formed a cordon around the street, not allowing any vehicles to pass, including that of Kabul's deputy police chief Amin Khalilzada.

Authorities halted traffic and all pedestrians were stopped about 200m away from the scene. Ambulances and other emergency ISAF vehicles roared past. The main road travels east toward Jalalabad from Kabul.

Eyewitnesses described a chaotic scene, with bits of metal strewn around after the blast.

"The explosion made a very loud noise. It shook all of our shops," said Fawad Ahmad, who works at a tire repair shop near the site of the explosion.

While the number of peacekeepers killed and injured in the attack was not confirmed, it appeared to be the deadliest assault on peacekeepers since they arrived in Afghanistan to bring peace and security to the capital following the fall of the hardline Taliban regime.

Suspected Taliban fighters have been stepping up attacks since the start of spring, particularly in the south and east of Afghanistan.

Before yesterday's attack, 15 peacekeepers had died on duty in Afghanistan, all of them in accidents. In addition, 62 Spanish peacekeepers died in May when their plane crashed in Turkey as they were returning home after a four-month tour of duty in Afghanistan.

On May 29, a German soldier died and another was injured when their vehicle ran over a land mine. German officials said they believed the deaths were caused by an old land mine, not an attack on them specifically. Afghanistan is one of the most heavily mined countries in the world.

On May 15, two Norwegian peacekeeping troops were shot and wounded by a renegade Afghan soldier.
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