A SUICIDE car bomber has killed three foreign troops and wounded 13 Afghan civilians in an attack on a convoy near the American embassy in Kabul.
The blast tore through cars and shattered shop windows on the road a few hundred metres from the main embassy gate. It was one of the worst attacks on international forces in the Afghan capital in months.
It happened near the heavily fortified embassy and comes amid a months-long political stalemate and an emboldened insurgency, with a presidential election still unresolved as most foreign combat troops prepare to leave by the end of the year.
The Taliban said it carried out the attack, which happened on the main road leading to the city's international airport, not far from the sprawling US embassy compound that is also home to other members of the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) coalition.
Afghan Deputy Interior Minister Mohammad Ayub Salangi said a suicide car bomber had targeted a convoy of vehicles carrying foreign troops.
Poland's military identified one of the dead as Rafal Celebudzki, a platoon commander who had also served in Iraq. Two other Polish soldiers were wounded.
Kabul police said 13 Afghan civilians were wounded and 17 nearby cars damaged.
Tensions have been building in Afghanistan since the disputed run-off vote in a presidential election in June, with rival candidates still arguing over the outcome.
In another attack yesterday, two suicide bombers set ablaze 26 fuel tankers at a customs post near a border crossing into Pakistan in east Afghanistan.
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