‘Largest-ever’ Afghan truck bomb found and defused

AN eight tonne truck bomb, the largest ever seen in Afghanistan, has been discovered and defused by the country’s security forces.

The bomb was found in an eastern district of the Afghan capital Kabul on Wednesday during a firefight in which five Haqqani insurgents were killed.

Shafiqullah Tahiri, a spokesman for the National Directorate of Security, told press that the bomb “could have destroyed an area around 1.5km in radius”.

The truck was discovered two days after America Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel left the capital, and follows Afghan president Hamid Karzai’s calls for American troops to leave a volatile province just outside Kabul.

The harsh Afghan winter is ending, and there are fears that fresh violence could be on the way to the country. Most NATO troops will leave the country by the end of next year.