18 die in Afghanistan suicide blast (Second Lead)

KABUL - At least 18 people were killed Tuesday in a suicide car bombing carried out near the US-founded Counterinsurgency Academy in Kabul, security officials said.

Twelve of the dead were Afghan civilians, the Interior Ministry said, while six foreign soldiers were also killed when the car bomb went off near a convoy of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), the ISAF said.

It did not release the nationalities of those soldiers, but an Afghan army officer at the scene said they were Americans.

The blast ripped through dozens of civilian cars and five ISAF vehicles in western Kabul near parliament, other government buildings as well as Camp Julien, where the Counterinsurgency Academy is located, the ISAF said. Afghan and US troops are quartered in the camp.

Forty-seven civilians were wounded in the bombing, the Interior Ministry said. Most of the Afghan casualties were travelling on a bus that was hit by the blast during the morning rush hour, it said.

The civilian dead also included construction workers. Mistari Daoud, a witness who was working at a nearby construction site, said four Afghan workers died in the incident.

The ISAF said several of its soldiers were wounded in the attack on Darulaman Road.

The bombing happened two days after Karzai returned from Washington, where he met with US officials who included President Barack Obama and discussed such topics as security, economic development and good governance.

The bombing also occurred 11 days before a so-called peace “jirga”, an assembly of tribal elders. At the three-day assembly beginning May 29, Karzai wants to get the backing of the population for his policy of reconciliation with the Taliban.

The militants are insisting that all foreign troops leave the country ahead of the talks, a condition Karzai has rejected.

Karzai said Tuesday that the US government supports the holding of the peace jirga.

Tuesday’s bombing was the first attack in nearly three months on the capital. On February 26, Taliban suicide fighters attacked a hotel and two guesthouses in central Kabul, killing 17 people.