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Kabul bomb wounds seven

British soldiers inspect a car that was hit by a roadside bomb in Kabul yesterday. PHOTO: AP

A bicycle bomb aimed at a vehicle carrying NATO-led peacekeepers exploded yesterday east of the Afghan capital Kabul, wounding at least seven Afghan civilians, some seriously, police and officials said.

The remote-controlled bomb was set on a bicycle left on the side of the main road from Kabul to the eastern city of Jalalabad and detonated at about 9:30am, district police chief Mohammed Akbar told reporters.

"Seven people were injured, some of them seriously: four were in a taxi passing by, three were pedestrians," Akbar said.

Interior ministry spokesman Lutfullah Mashal said the blast targeted a vehicle belonging to the 8,000-strong International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), which is based in Kabul.

"There was an explosion in the Hod Qhail neighborhood, east of Kabul. It was aimed at an ISAF vehicle, but missed it and struck a taxi and pedestrians passing by."

ISAF spokesman Lieutenant Karen Tissot van Patot told reporters no peacekeepers were injured in the blast. She said it happened 9km east of the capital but gave no other details.

The explosion came about eight hours after a rocket shook the ISAF headquarters in central Kabul, although no one was injured in that incident.

No one claimed responsibility for either of the attacks yesterday.

Afghanistan's ousted Islamic hardline Taliban militia has stepped up violence elsewhere in the country during the past month and security has also deteriorated in Kabul.
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