A suicide bomber targeted a car carrying British embassy workers in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Thursday. The huge explosion killed one British civilian and one Afghan national, both of whom were working for the embassy. A second British member of the team was among those injured in the blast.
Three other Afghans were also killed and more than 30 others were injured, according to the BBC, which also reported that the Taliban has taken responsibility for the bombing. Some reports say children were among those injured.
“I condemn this appalling attack on innocent civilians supporting our diplomatic activity,” said British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond in a statement. “This outrage brings home to us once again the courage and perseverance of the people of Afghanistan and members of the international community who support them, who have lived together through decades of conflict. We will not allow such inhumanity to deter us from continuing our partnership with the Government of Afghanistan.” He added that the victim’s families have been informed.
The security firm G4S confirmed on Thursday that the British person killed was “security team member” from the company. G4S said in a statement that a vehicle carrying an improvised explosive device was used against the embassy vehicle as it was moving through the city.
The convoy was traveling between Jalalabad and Kabul when it was hit by the massive explosion, The Guardian reports. The main highway on which the bombing occurred has recently been the site of numerous other attacks.
The U.K. officially ended its 13-year war — one of the longest campaigns in the country’s history — against Afghanistan in October of this year. Thursday’s attack came on the heels of a bombing earlier this week that killed two American soldiers who were traveling on the same road. Their vehicle was rammed by suicide bomber in Kabul. The two attacks this week occurred after the Obama administration announced that coalition combat operations in the country would be expanded. The new plan was a revision of a previous decision to end U.S. military combat operations in Afghanistan by the end of this year. That order did not include counter-terrorism operations. Under the revised mission, the US military will continue to launch air and ground combat operations against Taliban forces when they present a serious threat to the Afghan military or civilians.
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