At least six killed in Afghanistan car bombing

KABUL , Afghanistan, Nov. 27 (UPI) -- A British Embassy vehicle in Kabul, Afghanistan, was struck by a suicide bomber Thursday, leaving at least six people dead and 30 injured.

The four-wheel-drive vehicle was on a busy road in the city's diplomatic quarter when the blast occurred, destroying several other vehicles. The attacker's car, a Toyota Corolla, exploded about three miles from the British Embassy, and debris was sprayed across a large and crowded area. Earlier, Afghan officials had said the bomber was riding a motorcycle.

The Taliban, which has recently targeted foreign officials in Kabul, took responsibility for the incident, the local Pajhwok news agency said..

An unidentified member of the British Embassy's security team died, and another British national was injured. The Afghan Interior Ministry said Afghan bystanders were killed and at least five children were injured. The United Kingdom's Foreign Secretary, Phillip Hammond, said it a statement it was an "appalling attack on innocent civilians."

The incident occurred on a road between the cities of Jalalabad and Kabul, an important corridor of embassies and military bases and the scene of numerous attacks by insurgents. Earlier in November a suicide bomber detonated his vehicle outside a nearby United Nations compound, and recently two U.S. soldiers were killed on the road by a remotely exploded device.

Thursday's attack came a week before a major conference in London on Afghanistan for international donors which the British Prime Minister's office called "a platform for the government of Afghanistan to set out its vision for reform."