Taliban claim blast at NATO base in Kabul

By David Fox and Hamid Shalizi

KABUL (Reuters) - The Taliban claimed responsibility for a suicide car bomb that killed seven people on Saturday in the heart of the Afghan capital's most secure district five days before an election the Islamist group has vowed to disrupt.

Afghanistan's Defense Ministry said at least seven people were killed and nearly 100 wounded in the blast outside the sprawling headquarters of the NATO-led international force, near the U.S. embassy, in Kabul.

A spokesman for the International Security Assistance Force said there were some ISAF casualties, while an official with the Afghan Ministry of Transport, whose headquarters bore the brunt of the blast, said dozens of employees were hurt by flying glass.

"Unfortunately, there are casualties," said Canadian Brigadier General Eric Tremblay, an ISAF spokesman. "I am not going to go into numbers. There's Afghan civilians and there are ISAF military."

The blast shattered windows in the area and shook buildings in the Wazir Akbar Khan district, home to most major foreign embassies and organizations in the capital.

It also rattled confidence in an August 20 presidential election which pits incumbent Hamid Karzai against 35 challengers. Two recent polls have Karzai with a comfortable lead over his nearest challenger, Abdullah Abdullah, but not enough to avoid a second round run-off.

Karzai condemned the attack but said it would not stop Afghans from voting.

"The enemies of Afghanistan try to create fear among people in this election period but people still realize the importance of going to ballot boxes to cast their votes," Karzai said in a statement.

The Taliban, stronger than at any time since they were driven from power eight years ago, have vowed to strike polling stations and threatened reprisals against voters.

"The target was the U.S. embassy, but we could not reach it," Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told Reuters by telephone from an undisclosed location.

BOLD ATTACKS

Violence has surged recently, with Taliban fighters staging bold attacks on provincial government buildings in the south and east, and also launching raids in once-quiet areas in the north and west.

"The sad thing is that, although you don't know where these things are going to happen, these things are expected, so I don't think there's going to be too many changes," a diplomat in Kabul said.

Saturday's suicide bomb attack was the first in Kabul since January, when the German embassy was targeted.

Taliban fighters also stormed government buildings in the capital on February 11, killing 19 people in an audacious commando-style raid.