Truck bombing in Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, wounds 2 in first attack on city in weeks

KABUL – A Taliban truck bomb exploded in the Afghan capital Sunday, wounding two people in the first attack targeting Kabul in almost three weeks, officials said.

Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi suggested the blast, which happened just before 6 a.m. (0130 GMT, 8:30 p.m. EST) at a gas station near Kabul’s military airport, might have been a premature suicide attack. The bombing wounded two civilians, Sediqqi said.

Farid Afzeli, the head of the criminal investigation division of Kabul police, said that the truck was attempting to enter downtown Kabul when it blew up.

President Ashraf Ghani arrived about two and a half hours before the blast at the adjacent civilian airport from Saudi Arabia, where he had gone to mourn the late King Abdullah, said an official on condition of anonymity as he was unauthorized to speak with journalists.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack in a message on Twitter.

Kabul has been quiet since early January, when a suicide car bomber attacked the headquarters of the European police training mission, killing an Afghan civilian and wounding five.

Taliban-led insurgents have intensified their war across Afghanistan in the past year as they test Afghan security forces following the withdrawal of international combat troops.