A suicide bomber tore through an Afghan-NATO foot patrol in a crowded city on Monday, killing at least 14 people, including three foreign troops and their interpreter, officials said. Taliban insurgents claimed responsibility for the attack near a market in the eastern city of Khost. Four Afghan police and six civilians were also killed, and 57 were wounded, local officials said. “Today at around 8:30 am (0400 GMT) a suicide bomber on a motorcycle targeted a joint patrol in Khost city in a crowded area.
“Six civilians and four police, including the commander of the quick reaction forces, were killed,” the governor’s office said in a statement, while the interior ministry said 57 people were wounded. NATO’s US-led International Security Assistance Force confirmed that three NATO service members and an ISAF-contracted interpreter had been killed in the attack.
The Taliban Islamists said on their website that the suicide attack was carried out by “a hero mujahid, Shohaib, from Kunduz”, claiming that eight foreigners and six Afghan soldiers were killed. The deaths take coalition casualties to at least 347 this year, according to an AFP tally. NATO has more than 100,000 troops fighting the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan, but they are due to pull out by the end of 2014.
Joint NATO-Afghan operations had been temporarily restricted last month after a spike in insider attacks, in which Afghan security forces turned their weapons against their coalition allies. Last week, US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said most joint operations have resumed, but could not give a percentage.