Briton killed in Afghanistan car bomb attack

Afghan security forces remove a destroyed vehicle after the suicide bombing near Kabuls international airport. Picture: Rahmat Gul/AP

The Taliban suicide bomber detonated an explosives-packed car near the international airport in the capital, Kabul, killing at least three people and wounding 18.

The incident comes just days after another Briton, who held joint Afghan nationality, was killed in an attack by the Taliban on a guest house in Kabul which left 14 people dead. He was working for the British Council in the country when he was killed.

The attack yesterday morning appears to have targeted vehicles of the European Union police training mission.

The car bomb was detonated near the office of the Afghan Civil Aviation Authority, which is a few hundred metres from the airport terminal.

Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said: “This is the second attack in a matter of days for which the Taliban have claimed responsibility and I strongly condemn their cowardly actions.

“I can confirm that a British security contractor is among those killed in the attack. His family has been informed and my thoughts are with them at this incredibly difficult time.

“Consular staff stand ready to provide support.

“Two Afghan women have also sadly lost their lives and many more have been injured.

“These attacks must not stop the people of Afghanistan, with the support of the international community, working towards a more peaceful future.”

Sari Haukka-Konu, a spokeswoman for the EU’s police mission, said one non-mission member traveling in a EUPOL vehicle had been killed. Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said the blast also killed two Afghans passing by and wounded 18 people, including three foreigners.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani also condemned the attack.

“The killing of innocent women and children shows the terrorists have been defeated on the battlefield and are looking for alternative means of killing innocent people,” Ghani said.

A Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement emailed to journalists, saying the bomber targeted “a convoy of foreign invader forces.”

The EU’s police effort has continued despite the 13-year international combat mission to Afghanistan ending. It has been working to build a civilian police force in Afghanistan for more than a decade and has around 240 international staff and 187 local workers, with a budget in 2015 of €58 million.

Meanwhile, a magnetic bomb attached to a vehicle exploded on Saturday in Kabul’s eastern suburbs, wounding one person. Late on Saturday, an explosion inside the campus of Kabul University also wounded two people.

An Afghan Army helicopter also crashed on Sunday while on an exercise in Kabul’s western outskirts, injuring two pilots.