6 killed in suicide attack near ISAF base in Afghanistan

As many as six people were killed and four more wounded, mostly children, when a teenage suicide bomber tried to attack the Isaf base in Kabul's Shashdarak area Saturday morning, officials said. The final number of casualties has not been determined. A teenage suicide bomber on foot detonated his explosives around 11:30AM in the high security area of Kabul's Shashdarak area, about 100 metres from Isaf headquarters, deputy police chief of Kabul Mohammad Daoud told TOLOnews. The bomber struck a small crowd of people, mostly children, waiting in the street outside the Isaf base to sell small goods and wares to the foreigner staff as they enter and leave the base. “The suicide bomber was about 13 to 16 years old and he wanted to cause insecurity in the area,” Daoud said. A witness told TOLOnews: “I saw the dead bodies are on the ground. Most of them were children. People tried to take the victims to a nearby hospital, but security forces arrived in the area and pushed us back.” Afghan Ministry of Interior spokesman Sediq Sediqqi blamed the attack on the militant Haqqani network. However, the Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack in an emailed statement to media around 12:30PM, saying they were targeting US intelligence personnel. They claimed to have killed five CIA (US Central Intelligence Agency) staff in the blast. The attack comes on the national holiday of “National Hero of Afghanistan” Ahmad Shah Massoud. Security was on high alert leading up to the holiday as Massoud is an anti-Taliban figurehead who fought the militant Islamists throughout their regime. He was killed by two suicide attackers in northern Takhar province on September 9, 2001. President Hamid Karzai declared Massoud a national hero in 2002 and made the date of his death a public holiday. The observance of the holiday was moved to September 8 this year.