Young girl and eight South African airport workers killed in Kabul as suicide bomber targets contractor firm's minibus
A suicide bomber has blown up a minibus carrying foreign nationals, most of them South African, as it pulled in to refuel at a Kabul petrol station, killing 12 people including a child, and injuring a further 11.
Eight South Africans were among the dead, according to the country's international affairs ministry. Afghan police and airport sources said the South African victims worked for Aviation Charter Solutions (ACS), a company providing planes and helicopters for the US embassy and its aid programme.
Government documents show the firm was awarded a $360m, two-year contract by USAid in January 2010, that could be extended further.
The embassy declined to comment when asked about the attack, and possible links with ACS.
Hizb-i-Islami, a militant group connected to the Taliban, claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was in revenge for an anti-Islam film that has spawned rioting from north Africa to south-east Asia, including violent protests in Kabul on Monday.
The attacker, who used an explosives-rigged Toyota Corolla, was a 22-year-old woman named Fatima, the group said in an email to the Associated Press.
It was almost impossible to verify the claim in the immediate aftermath; little remained of the car beyond scraps of metal and a charred engine. If true, it would be the first time militants have deployed a female suicide bomber in the Afghan capital.
The attack happened at 6.45am as the bus drove down the main highway to Kabul's airport where all the victims worked, police said. The bus regularly stopped at the same petrol station to refuel around that time of the morning, said one policeman, who asked not to be named.
Witnesses said an Afghan child aged around eight and a worker who changed tyres were among the dead. Most of the bodies piled up around the blast site appeared to be Caucasian; the blond hair of one worker was clearly visible.
"I heard a huge explosion and came running out of my house," said 22-year-old Hussain, who lives nearby. "I thought maybe there had been a rocket attack, but on the road I saw some badly destroyed bodies, legs, hands. A vehicle was burning, and I couldn't bear the sight, so I left."
The glass front of the newly completed Khalija wedding hall nearby had been blown out, while the City wedding hall had also lost some windowsand cars on the other side of the road were badly damaged.
The timing of the attack may have limited casualties. Later in the day the road is packed with people commuting to work, and to and from the airport.