A suicide
bomber on a motorbike attacked a British embassy vehicle in Kabul on Thursday,
officials said, killing at least five Afghans and wounding 34 bystanders in the
latest blast to hit the city, AFP reports.
British
embassy staff were also injured in the attack, though no further details were
immediately released. Among the bystanders injured were five children,
officials said.
The huge
explosion could be heard across Kabul and a plume of smoke rose high into the
air above the attack site on the Jalalabad road, a main route that houses many
foreign compounds and military facilities.
The
attack, coming three days after two US soldiers were killed in another bomb
blast in Kabul, highlights the fragile security situation in the Afghan capital
as foreign forces end their combat mission against the Taliban.
The
Taliban said they were behind Thursday's attack in a message on a recognised
Twitter account, claiming that many foreigners had been killed.
Immediately
after the blast, an AFP reporter saw one badly-shaken foreign passenger talking
to Afghan police, asking after his wounded colleagues.
A
policeman at the scene said one Afghan in the British vehicle had suffered a
serious arm injury, and that passengers covered in blood had been taken to
hospital.
"A
British embassy vehicle was attacked. There are some injuries. We are working
with Afghan authorities," a spokesman for the British embassy told AFP.
Kenishka
Turkistani, spokesmen for the ministry of public health, said five people were
killed and 34 wounded in the attack.
"They
are all Afghan civilians, the wounded include five children. We don't record
foreign casualties," Turkistani said.
Wartorn
Afghanistan suffered its deadliest attack of 2014 on Sunday when a suicide
bomber struck at a volleyball match in the eastern province of Paktika, killing
57 people.
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