Kabul blast hits British embassy vehicle, kills five Afghans

Afghan intelligence personnel inspect the site of a suicide attack along the Kabul-Jalalabad road in Kabul on November 27, 2014. AFP Photo

A suicide bomber on a motorbike attacked a British embassy vehicle in Kabul on Nov. 27, officials said, killing at least five Afghans and wounding 34 bystanders in the latest blast to hit the city.

One British citizen was among five people killed the attack, the Interior Ministry said in a statement. 
      
British embassy staff were also injured in the attack, though no further details were immediately released. Among the bystanders injured were five children, officials said.
      
The huge explosion could be heard across Kabul and a plume of smoke rose high into the air above the attack site on the Jalalabad road, a main route that houses many foreign compounds and military facilities.
      
The attack, coming three days after two US soldiers were killed in another bomb blast in Kabul, highlights the fragile security situation in the Afghan capital as foreign forces end their combat mission against the Taliban.
      
The Taliban said they were behind Thursday's attack in a message on a recognised Twitter account, claiming that many foreigners had been killed.
      
Immediately after the blast, an AFP reporter saw one badly-shaken foreign passenger talking to Afghan police, asking after his wounded colleagues.
      
A policeman at the scene said one Afghan in the British vehicle had suffered a serious arm injury, and that passengers covered in blood had been taken to hospital.
      
"A British embassy vehicle was attacked. There are some injuries. We are working with Afghan authorities," a spokesman for the British embassy told AFP.
      
Kenishka Turkistani, spokesmen for the ministry of public health, said five people were killed and 34 wounded in the attack.
      
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