At least 35 killed in Afghan bus explosion

Survivor speaks
At least one person on the bus survived the 8:10 a.m. attack. Nasir Ahmad, 22, was sitting in the back of the bus when the blast went off. He said the bus had been filled with police instructors.

“There were between 30 to 40 police instructors in the bus,” Ahmad said from a hospital bed where he was recovering from wounds to his face and hands.

Despite the Taliban claim, officials were trying to determine if the explosion, which went off in the front of the bus, was caused by a suicide attacker or a bomb that had been planted.

A civilian bus also damaged in the blast was driving just in front of the police vehicle when the blast went off, and a police officer at the scene said the bus’ position likely prevented more civilian casualties.

“Most of the wounded are in serious condition,” said Fazel Rahim, a doctor from a nearby hospital whose hands and white coat were covered in blood. He said at least 35 were injured.

Authorities are frequent targets
Afghan government officials, police and army soldiers are commonly targeted by insurgents trying to bring down the U.S.-backed government of President Hamid Karzai.

A police and army force that can provide security around the country on its own is essential to the U.S. and NATO strategy of handing over security responsibilities to the Afghan government one day, allowing Western forces to leave.

In May, a remote-control bomb hit an Afghan army bus in Kabul, killing the driver and wounding 29 people. In October, a bomb placed on a bicycle exploded as a police bus went by in Kabul, wounding 11. Last July, a remote-controlled bomb blew up near an Afghan army bus in downtown Kabul, wounding 39 people on board.

At least 307 Afghan police, army or intelligence personnel have been killed in violence so far this year through June 15, according to an AP tally of figures from the U.S., U.N., NATO and Afghan authorities.

Worst attack since Taliban's fall
Sunday’s attack is the deadliest by insurgents since the fall of the Taliban. In September 2002, 30 people were killed and 167 wounded in a Kabul car bombing. In February, a suicide bomber detonated explosives himself outside the main U.S. base at Bagram Air Field, killing 23 people, during a visit by Vice President Dick Cheney.

A Pakistani and a Japanese were filming the area before the explosion, so intelligence agents took them for questioning, said Asadullah. Among the wounded were Japanese aid workers passing through the traffic circle, said Koji Miyazaki from the Association for Aid and Relief, Japan.

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