A car bomb in the Afghan capital, Kabul, has killed two U.S. contractors for the Nato-led international security force Isaf.
The explosion in eastern Kabul was the latest incident to rattle the city before April’s presidential election, which will choose the country’s first new leader since 2001.
Isaf said in a statement: “Two International Security Assistance Force contracted civilians died as the result of a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device attack in eastern Afghanistan today.”
A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the contractors were American.
Afghanistan’s future remains uncertain as the Taliban continue their insurgent campaign and Washington and the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, are deadlocked over a bilateral security deal to let some US forces stay beyond the end of 2014.
Nato forces have already begun to withdraw from Afghanistan, but the United States and other nations have been seeking to keep some troops in Afghanistan after 2014 to help the country’s army fend off the Taliban.
On Saturday, the United Nations said civilian deaths had increased in 2013 as fighting intensified between government forces and insurgents.
Posted by The Guardian World News