By Xinhua,
Kabul : A convoy of the international troops was hit by suicide car bombing Saturday morning in Paghman district near the Afghan capital Kabul, but no casualties were reported so far, said a police official.
Ayub Salangi, the general police chief of Kabul province, told Xinhua that the blast occurred at around 11 a.m. (0630 GMT) in the Kabul-Kandahar highway where the suicide bomber drove a Jeep laden with explosive material into the patrolling convoy of international troops and exploded himself up.
“The explosion killed nobody but the suicide bomber himself,” Salangi said.
Meanwhile, Zabihullah Mujahed, the purported Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing, saying that at least 10 international and Afghan soldiers were killed.
Neither the U.S.-led Coalition forces nor the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) was available for comments.
Taliban insurgents who staged a violent comeback three years ago have intensified their activities targeting Afghan and international troops over the past weeks to mount pressure on the Afghan government despite around 70,000 foreign troops stationed in the war-torn country vowing to keep peace and help reconstruction here.
Ten French soldiers with ISAF were killed during in the clashes with Taliban militants in mid-August near Kabul, which became the greatest casualties for French troops since their Afghan mission in 2001.
Conflicts and spiraling insurgency have claimed the lives of over 3,000 people so far this year.