Three US contractors were among 12 killed by a Kabul bomb that targeted their Nato convoy, the U.S.-led coalition said, making the attack one of the most lethal for US citizens in Afghanistan in recent years.
The suicide attack outside a hospital on a residential street at rush hour killed mainly Afghan civilians and injured scores more, heightening the anger felt in Kabul after a barrage of deadly blasts this month killed dozens.
The attacker drove his car towards an armoured pick-up truck belonging to contractor DynCorp International which was torn open and left twisted and blackened by the blast. Dozens of vehicles were destroyed, including a school van.
One US contractor died when the bomb exploded and two died from their wounds.
The US embassy in Kabul condemned the bombing.
"The United States remains committed to assisting our Afghan partners in their efforts to ensure a peaceful future," it said.
Contractors such as DynCorp, which has a long involvement in the war and provided bodyguards for the last president, have frequently been targeted. Four US DynCorp employees were killed in a similar Kabul suicide attack in 2013.
Bombings have increased in Kabul since the government and the Taliban in July confirmed Taliban leader Mullah Omar died two years ago, putting paid to hopes that the insurgents would quickly return to the negotiating table.
The UN mission in Afghanistan called for an "immediate halt to all such disproportionate attacks" in civilian-populated areas.
Fighting killed 5,000 civilians in the first half of this year, more than at any point since war started in 2001.
The violence has strained Afghanistan's ties with Pakistan, with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani accusing the neighbouring country of not doing enough to stop militants planning attacks from training camps that he says lie across the border.
Pakistan called the latest attack on civilians "cowardice" and promised to fight against "a common enemy".
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article