Civilians killed in Taliban blast

A damaged vehicle is lifted up on a truck after a Taliban suicide car bomber struck a Nato convoy in Kabul, killing six troops and five civilians, including women and children.

The blast was on a major road that runs by the ruins of a one-time royal palace and government ministries. It wrecked nearly 20 vehicles, including five in the Nato convoy, and scattered debris and body parts across the wide boulevard.

The attack – the deadliest for Nato troops in the capital since September – comes despite increased efforts by Afghan authorities to better secure a capital city that suffered a series of atrocities over the winter.

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A Taliban spokesman said the bomber was a man from Kabul and his car was packed with 1,650lbs of explosives. The target was the Nato convoy.

A US forces spokesman said five of the dead were American service

members and one a Canadian.

It was the deadliest attack for Nato in the capital since a September suicide bombing that killed six Italian soldiers. It came as Nato readies a major offensive in the southern province of Kandahar, a major Taliban stronghold.

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