A powerful car bomb exploded Tuesday near a military convoy in Kabul, Afghanistan, killing at least 18 people, including six coalition forces, officials said.
The Taliban has claimed responsibility for the blast, which overturned a heavy military truck, and destroyed other military and civilian vehicles in
a Kabul street near the city's historic presidential palace, witnesses told The Washington Post.
The attack occurred as an explosives-laden vehicle approached an International Security Assistance Force military convoy, the ISAF said on its Web site.
Media reports said between 47 and 60 people were injured. The explosion occurred near a registration center for Afghan army recruits, CNN said.
"ISAF strongly condemns the attack on civilians and ISAF forces," ISAF spokesman Brig. Gen. Josef Blotz said. "This sort of desperate brutality and
aggression reminds us of the pessimism of an enemy who seek to kill the innocent and to stop the progress necessary for a better Afghanistan."
The dozen Afghan civilians who died in the blast apparently were passengers on a public bus driving near the convoy when the explosion occurred,
officials said. The bus was destroyed.
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the attack wouldn't affect the alliance's commitment to "protect the Afghan people and strengthen Afghanistan's ability to resist terrorism."
Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who recently visited Washington, also condemned the attack.
Zabiullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman, said the attacker was able to "destroy five foreign vehicles and damage one more," CNN reported.
The attack came as coalition forces prepared for a campaign next month in southern Kandahar, birthplace of the Taliban.