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KABUL. – A Taliban suicide bomber who struck a NATO patrol in Afghanistan, killing a service member and two civilians, had concealed his explosives beneath the all-enveloping women’s garment known as a burqa, a district governor said yesterday.The attack hit the patrol near Qarabagh, barely 30km north of Kabul.
It was the second suicide bombing in as many days that targeted NATO. On Wednesday, a suicide attacker hit a convoy on the edge of the southern city of Kandahar, killing two US soldiers and wounding another four. Both attacks were claimed by the Taliban.
Abdul Sami Sharifi, the district governor in Qarabagh, said the attacker in Thursday’s bombing was riding a motorcycle and rammed the bike into a NATO patrol, setting off his explosives.
The US military confirmed that a service member was killed but did not reveal the soldier’s nationality. US Navy Capt. Bill Salvin, a military spokesman, said six service members were wounded, including an Afghan translator.
The wounded were all in stable condition and being treated in the US military hospital at the Bagram airfield north of Kabul, Salvin said. Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid told The Associated Press over the phone yesterday that one of its fighters from Takhar province carried out the attack. He claimed 11 Americans were killed, but the insurgents routinely exaggerate their claims. – AP.
Online Reporter