US embassy officials bombed in Kabul

A number of US embassy officials were wounded and a 15-year-old Afghan civilian was killed when a Taliban suicide car bomber blew himself up next to a convoy in Kabul on Mar. 19. The explosion took place as the convoy made its way through a road located two miles from the embassy, scattering debris around the motorcade as well as passing pedestrians. Joe Mellott, a US embassy spokesman, told The Associated Press that several US embassy officials were wounded in the incident, one seriously. He confirmed that Ronald Neumann, the US ambassador, was not in the convoy. Local police later confirmed that a 15-year-old passerby had died in the blast, while several civilians were injured. According to reports from witnesses at the scene, one of the three four-wheel drive vehicles accompanying the US motorcade was thrown across the road by the impact of the blast, while the two other vehicles were also badly damaged. Qari Yousef Ahmadi, a Taliban spokesman, claimed responsibility for the attack, telling The Associated Press in a telephone call from a secret location that it was carried out by a militant affiliated to the fundamentalist group from the Khost province. He said more attacks were planned. Western troops immediately sealed off the site of the blast–a road often targeted in bombings and rocket attacks which leads out of Kabul and to the US base at Bagram. A helicopter hovered above the scene, and smoke was seen billowing from a car. French soldiers–part of the NATO-led security force that patrols the Afghan capital–scoured nearby fields for evidence as British and US soldiers secured the area. The suicide bombing was the first in Afghanistan's capital since December, and the US embassy immediately closed and sent out a warning to US citizens living in Kabul in its aftermath. It comes amid an increase in Taliban raids in recent weeks, including suicide attacks, as fighting picks up after a winter lull. NATO had launched an offensive in southern Afghanistan earlier this month in a specific attempt to preempt the expected spring offensive.