A suicide car bomber attacked an American convoy in Kabul this morning, wounding at least four US troops and four civilian contractors, despite heightened security ahead of President Hamid Karzai’s inauguration next week.
Afghan police said that a white Toyota Corolla exploded close to America’s Camp Phoenix, on one of the most heavily bombed roads in the city, at about 7.45am.
Military sources told The Times that four US soldiers had suffered non-life threatening injuries, while four contractors working for an American company were more seriously hurt.
“There were two Humvees and an SUV hit outside Camp Phoenix,” the source said. “There were eight casualties. Four serious.”
The Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said that Afghan civilians, ISAF service members and civilian contractors were wounded in the blast. “No ISAF service members have been killed,” a statement said.
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The main highway links Kabul with the eastern city of Jalalabad. The section closest to the capital is a magnet for suicide attackers, with at least four major Nato bases, police and army training camps and a huge UN compound all within a couple of miles.
A military spokesman confirmed the location of the blast. “We don’t know what it was but there was an explosion outside Camp Phoenix,” Sergeant First Class Kevin Bell said.
Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, and Richard Holbrooke, America’s special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, are both due in Kabul for Mr Karzai’s inauguration on November 19.
The attack comes less than three weeks after a Taleban suicide squad stormed a UN guesthouse in the centre of Kabul, killing five international staff and sending shockwaves through the international community.
Almost half of the UN’s expatriate staff have been ordered out of the country, pending a security review.
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Camp Phoenix, on the outskirts of Kabul, is run by US forces, with some NATO member nations maintaining a presence there.
It is led, primarily, by the US Army National Guard. As of September there were more than 1,700 national guardsmen there.
It is also a base for the Afghan Army, which is being trained by international forces in the hope it can take over responsibility for fighting the Taleban insurgency.
The camp occasionally comes under attack, mostly from rocket and mortar fire, though without casualties.