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One Afghan Killed, 22 Wounded In Kabul Bombing Targeting Australians


The site of a suicide bomb attack in Kabul on March 2
The site of a suicide bomb attack in Kabul on March 2

A suicide bomb attack in an eastern district of Kabul on March 2 that killed a 6-year-old girl and wounded 22 more Afghans was targeting Australian Embassy vehicles, Afghan and Australian officials said.

Interior Ministry spokesman Najib Danish said that the blast was a car bombing targeting "a convoy of foreigners" in the Qabel Bay district of the Afghan capital.

The Australian Foreign Ministry on the Australian Embassy website late on March 2 said the bombing apparently targeted Australians as it was detonated "near Australian Embassy vehicles while they were traveling in Kabul."

The ministry said no Australians were injured. NATO's Resolute Support mission also issued a statement saying no NATO personnel were injured.

"The target was not a NATO convoy," said NATO mission spokesman Tom Gresback.

The area is home to a military training center, the government’s customs offices, and some guesthouses.

No one has yet claimed responsibility for the bombing.

The attack came two days after President Ashraf Ghani offered to start peace talks with the Taliban and just over a month after an explosives-packed ambulance was detonated in the city center, killing around 100 people.

The Taliban claimed the ambulance attack, as well as an attack a week earlier in which militants stormed a luxury hotel in Kabul, killing 22 people, including 14 foreigners.

With reporting by dpa, AFP, AP, and Reuters
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