At least 12 people were killed and 66 others wounded in an explosion in Afghanistan’s capital Saturday, an Afghan Ministry of Public Health official said.
Three American contractors with the NATO-led Resolute Support mission were killed, two of them as a result of their wounds, in what the mission described as an attack on their convoy from a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device.
It happened in the Macrorayan district of Kabul, according to health ministry spokesman Wahidullah Mayar, who said it was “probably (a) suicide attack.”
The dead included a foreign national and a woman; among the wounded were six women and five children, Mayar added.
The U.S. Embassy in Kabul issued a statement strongly condemning the attack.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families who suffered as a result of this attack,” the statement said. “The United States remains committed to assisting our Afghan partners in their efforts to ensure a peaceful future for Afghanistan.”
Last week, a suicide bomber detonated his car at a checkpoint near the entrance to Kabul International Airport, killing four people and wounding 15 others, Afghan officials said. The Taliban claimed responsibility.
On August 10, three separate attacks in Kabul killed more than 50 people, including 27 students at a police academy and one U.S. service member. The Taliban claimed responsibility for two of the attacks.