Militants fighting Afghan government and U.S.-led Coalition forces have apparently intensified attacks as spring, the traditional war season in the war-torn country, is drawing closer.
The militants in the latest wave of violence carried out a suicide car bomb attack against military convoy of the U.S.-led Coalition forces Wednesday morning leaving at least six civilians dead and wounding 10 others, a statement of Interior Ministry released here said.
It was a black colored explosive-packed vehicle hit a military convoy on a road connecting U.S. Embassy to Kabul International Airport at 8:20 a.m. local time (GMT 0350) wounding four soldiers of the Coalition forces, an official at NATO-led ISAF press department told Xinhua.
He also noted that eight civilians were killed and 35 others reportedly sustained injuries in the deadly attack.
Xinhua correspondent at the site saw 13 damaged civilians' vehicles including three buses.
It is the first attack in the Afghan capital in less than two months shocking the war-weary city and creating panic among its residents.
Taliban elusive chief Mullah Mohammad Omar in a statement released in early February vowed to intensify attacks when the weather gets warm.
Skirmishes and Taliban-related violence have claimed the lives of more than 210 people with overwhelming of them civilians since January this year while conflicts and Taliban-link insurgency according to UN report released recently claimed the lives of around 8,000 people with 1,500 of them civilians last year.
Observers including the U.S. commander of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) General Mc Neill predicted early 2008 that the militants would intensify activities mostly in the shape of suicide attacks and roadside bombings this year.
Skirmishes between militants and NATO troops also left two Afghan women and two kids dead in an overnight fighting firefight in southern Afghanistan's Helmand province, the military alliance said in a statement issued on Wednesday.
Moreover, a series of Afghan forces operations backed by NATO-led ISAF and U.S.-led Coalition troops have been continuing in parts of the country mostly in the restive southern and eastern regions to foil Taliban possible offensives in spring.
Taliban militants who have yet to accept responsibility for today's attack have in the past claimed to have recruited hundreds of suicide bombers to target Afghan and foreign troops serving in the post-Taliban central Asian states.
Source:Xinhua
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