A suicide bomber on a motorbike attacked a British embassy vehicle in Kabul on Thursday, officials said, killing six people and wounding 34 bystanders in the latest blast to hit the city.
A suicide bomber on a motorbike attacked a British embassy vehicle in Kabul on Thursday, officials said, killing six people and wounding 34 bystanders in the latest blast to hit the city.
The huge explosion could be heard across Kabul and a plume of smoke rose high into the air above the attack site on the Jalalabad road, a main route that houses many foreign compounds and military facilities.
The attack comes three days after two US soldiers were killed in another bomb blast in Kabul.
The Taliban said they were behind Thursday's attack in a message on a recognized Twitter account, claiming that many foreigners had been killed.
Immediately after the blast, an AFP reporter saw one badly-shaken foreign passenger talking to Afghan police, asking after his wounded colleagues.
A policeman at the scene said one Afghan in the British vehicle had suffered a serious arm injury, and that passengers covered in blood had been taken to hospital.
"A British embassy vehicle was attacked. There are some injuries. We are working with Afghan authorities," a spokesman for the British embassy told AFP.
"One British national was killed in today's attack," police spokesman Hashmat Stanakzai said in an emailed press statement.
For its part, Britain said two people working for its embassy in Kabul -- a Briton and an Afghan national -- were killed in the bombing, and vowed to continue operating in Afghanistan despite the "outrage".
"I am deeply saddened to confirm that a British national civilian security team member and an Afghan national working for the embassy were killed," Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said.