A blast believed to have been triggered by a suicide bomber killed two Afghan civilians and two US soldiers and wounded 35 others near the German embassy in Kabul on Saturday, officials said. The attack, which was carried out with a car loaded with explosives, took place in the front the embassy, which is adjacent to a US military base, a UN office building and some 200 metres from the presidential palace, officials said.
"So far our information gathered from four hospitals in Kabul city says that two Afghan civilians were killed and 23 others were wounded in today's attack," Abdullah Fahim, spokesman for the Afghan Health Ministry said.
He said several of the wounded people, who were all male, were in a critical condition, reported dpa.
Two US soldiers were also killed and 12 others were wounded in the attack, a US military statement said.
A spokesman for the German foreign ministry in Berlin said that several employees of the embassy were among the injured, although did not give further details.
"This was a well-travelled civilian road," Colonel Jerry O'Hara, a US military spokesperson said in the statement, adding "This incident will only strengthen our collective resolve to aggressively pursue enemy networks before they can hurt innocent Afghans and Coalition forces."
The Taliban took responsibility for Saturday's bombing in a statement posted at the rebel website and said that one of their bombers, named Sham-ul-Rahman carried out the attack, using a Toyota- Corolla car filled with explosives.
The statement claimed that eight German soldiers were killed in the attack, while several German diplomats were among the casualties.
The statement also claimed that the blast destroyed part of German embassy building.
Taliban often provide different accounts for their operations, which are often proven to be exaggerated or falsified.
Several vehicles including a passenger van and tanker in front of the embassy's gate were ablaze and thick smoke was billowing from the area.
Tolo, a private TV channel showed several Afghan municipal workers soaked in blood being rushed off the scene by a pick-up truck.
The area, which is one of the city's main intersections was cordoned off by Afghan and US military soldiers.
Taliban militants, who were driven out of power in a US-led invasion in late 2001, have carried out hundreds of suicide attacks in the past seven years.
The militants were responsible for more than 120 suicide bombings in 2008 in Afghanistan. More than 50 people including two Indian diplomats were killed in a suicide attack against the Indian embassy in July last year.
