Nato troops among 10 dead in Taliban Kabul blast

KABUL: The Taliban killed at least 10 people including two Nato troops in a Kabul bombing on Thursday, another attack on the Afghan capital just as a US envoy returned to talks with the insurgents on a troop withdrawal.

The car bomb blast shook Shash Darak, a heavily fortified area adjacent to the Green Zone and home to several important complexes including the National Directorate of Security, the Afghan intelligence service.

Apparent surveillance footage of the attack, which occurred at about 10:10 am (0540 GMT), showed a grey minivan explode just after it had cut in front of a line of white SUVs waiting to make a right turn onto a street.

One nearby pedestrian can be seen turning and trying to run away as the minivan crashed through a barrier just before the blast.

Resolute Support, the US-led Nato mission in Afghanistan, said a Romanian and an American service member had been killed in the explosion.

The American death brings to at least 16 the number of US military killed in action in Afghanistan this year, just as Washington is seeking a way out of its longest war.

According to interior ministry spokesman Nasrat Rahimi, at least 10 people were killed and 42 more wounded. On Twitter, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the attack. Massoud Zazai, who owns a photo studio across the street from the blast site, said he was in his shop when the explosion happened. “I fell off my chair and it got dark inside the shop because of smoke and dust,” Zazai told AFP. “I went out to the scene moments after the attack. The side of the road was littered with debris and bodies.”

Through the smoke, Zazai said he could hear injured people crying and calling for their mothers and brothers. It was horrifying,” he said. The attack was close to where an Islamic State group’s blast killed nine journalists in April last year, including AFP Kabul’s chief photographer Shah Marai.

It was the second time a Romanian national was killed by the Taliban this week. On Monday, a Romanian was among at least 16 people killed in a Taliban attack on a residential area in east Kabul.