Suicide attack in Kabul, 12 dead: officials

KABUL: A suicide car bomber Tuesday killed 12 people, nine of them foreigners, officials said, in an early-morning attack claimed by a militant group which said it struck to avenge an anti-Islam film.

The attack on a highway leading to Kabul international airport was the second suicide strike in the heavily fortified city in 10 days, renewing questions about stability as NATO accelerates a troop withdrawal and hands over to Afghan forces by the end of 2014.

Afghan insurgent group Hezb-i-Islami claimed responsibility for the blast, saying it was carried out by a woman to avenge the "Innocence of Muslims" film, deemed insulting to Islam.

The claim was made by spokesman Zubair Sidiqi in a telephone call from an undisclosed location. It is extremely rare for the faction to claim a suicide attack in Afghanistan. It is also rare for women to carry out suicide attacks.

Hezb-i-Islami is Afghanistan's second-biggest insurgent group after the Taliban and is led by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, a former prime minister.

At least six bodies lying among the wreckage of a gutted minivan, and another vehicle destroyed by flames still burning in the middle of the highway, with debris flung all around.

"At around 6:45 am (0215 GMT) a suicide bomber using a sedan blew himself up along the airport road in District 15. As a result, nine workers of a foreign company and three Afghan civilians are dead, and two police are wounded," police said in a statement.

An Afghan and a Western security official said nine foreigners were killed.

"The foreigners were from a private company working at the airport," the Afghan official told, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Kabul police chief Mohammad Ayoub Salangi told the bomber blew himself up alongside a minivan, carrying foreigners.

The attack came a day after protests turned violent for the first time in Afghanistan over "Innocence of Muslims", as hundreds of angry men hurled stones at a US military base, clashed with police and shouted "Death to America".