<p>A Taliban spokesman, claiming responsibility, said the Islamists had used a van packed with 750 kg of explosives. <br /><br />The attack was the deadliest strike against foreign troops in the heavily-guarded capital since September 2009, when six Italian soldiers were killed by a car bomb. <br /><br />It comes after the Taliban announced a spring offensive against the Afghan government, foreign forces and diplomats in Afghanistan in response to Nato plans for an offensive on the group’s southern stronghold of Kandahar. <br /><br />“This will not deter us from our mission of securing a better future for this country,” Nato spokesman Brigadier General Josef Blotz said in a statement. <br />The interior ministry said at least 12 Afghan civilians had been killed and 47 wounded. Most of the casualties were people waiting for a bus on the busy road near an army base, a government ministry and the parliament. <br /><br />Kabul’s Estiqlal hospital was overwhelmed with wounded people, including children, with their heads, legs and hands covered in blood. Some moaned in pain. <br />“The blast knocked me down, although I wasn’t very near the explosion but I saw a van exploded and there was blood and bodies everywhere,” said a teenager named Mustafa, whose head was wrapped in a blood-stained bandage. <br /><br />Body bags<br />Foreign troops were seen zipping up at least five of the dead in body bags. At least seven cars and one bus were seen destroyed in the attack. One SUV, a vehicle sometimes used by the Nato forces, was completely burned amid the wreckage. <br />Police cordoned off the road near Darulaman palace, a derelict building that once housed Afghanistan’s royal family, state television showed. <br />Afghan troops were collecting evidence and debris from the blast site. Another survivor, government worker Noor Mohammad, was waiting for a bus when the bomber detonated his vehicle. <br /><br />“A van driving very fast approached the convoy of foreigners and a huge blast went off... I didn’t know I was hurt, the explosion deafened my ears and I had a blackout,” Mohammad, who suffered shrapnel wounds to his legs, said from his hospital bed. <br />President Hamid Karzai was holding a news conference at the time of the blast, following a trip to Washington where he met US President Barack Obama to discuss strained ties between the two countries amid a rising insurgency and civilian casualties. <br />“I condemn this attack on strongest terms and hope that Afghanistan one day gets rid of this,” Karzai said.</p>
<p>A Taliban spokesman, claiming responsibility, said the Islamists had used a van packed with 750 kg of explosives. <br /><br />The attack was the deadliest strike against foreign troops in the heavily-guarded capital since September 2009, when six Italian soldiers were killed by a car bomb. <br /><br />It comes after the Taliban announced a spring offensive against the Afghan government, foreign forces and diplomats in Afghanistan in response to Nato plans for an offensive on the group’s southern stronghold of Kandahar. <br /><br />“This will not deter us from our mission of securing a better future for this country,” Nato spokesman Brigadier General Josef Blotz said in a statement. <br />The interior ministry said at least 12 Afghan civilians had been killed and 47 wounded. Most of the casualties were people waiting for a bus on the busy road near an army base, a government ministry and the parliament. <br /><br />Kabul’s Estiqlal hospital was overwhelmed with wounded people, including children, with their heads, legs and hands covered in blood. Some moaned in pain. <br />“The blast knocked me down, although I wasn’t very near the explosion but I saw a van exploded and there was blood and bodies everywhere,” said a teenager named Mustafa, whose head was wrapped in a blood-stained bandage. <br /><br />Body bags<br />Foreign troops were seen zipping up at least five of the dead in body bags. At least seven cars and one bus were seen destroyed in the attack. One SUV, a vehicle sometimes used by the Nato forces, was completely burned amid the wreckage. <br />Police cordoned off the road near Darulaman palace, a derelict building that once housed Afghanistan’s royal family, state television showed. <br />Afghan troops were collecting evidence and debris from the blast site. Another survivor, government worker Noor Mohammad, was waiting for a bus when the bomber detonated his vehicle. <br /><br />“A van driving very fast approached the convoy of foreigners and a huge blast went off... I didn’t know I was hurt, the explosion deafened my ears and I had a blackout,” Mohammad, who suffered shrapnel wounds to his legs, said from his hospital bed. <br />President Hamid Karzai was holding a news conference at the time of the blast, following a trip to Washington where he met US President Barack Obama to discuss strained ties between the two countries amid a rising insurgency and civilian casualties. <br />“I condemn this attack on strongest terms and hope that Afghanistan one day gets rid of this,” Karzai said.</p>
