By AMIR SHAH
Afghan police secure the area after a car bomb detonated outside an ISAF civilian personnel compound in Kabul, Afghanistan, Friday, Oct 18, 2013. Police said the assault started at dusk when a car exploded near the gate of a compound, housing contractors from various countries, European diplomatic personnel and United Nations employees. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A suicide car bomber attacked a small convoy of vehicles Friday near a heavily fortified private residential compound used by hundreds of foreigners on the outskirts of Kabul, killing two passers-by, Afghan officials said.
Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqi said a suicide car bomber attacked two vehicles used “by foreigners” near the Green Village compound. There were no reports that the people in the vehicles were injured.
A police official said two civilians passing by the site of the explosion were killed by the blast. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the car bombing and said Green Village was the intended target.
The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force confirmed that a car bomb attack had occurred in Kabul and that “there was one enemy killed as a result of the attack.”
“We have no operational reports of ISAF personnel fatalities,” it said in a statement.
Small arms fire could be heard after the initial blast, apparently as guards in the industrial zone where the blast occurred started shooting. An Associated Press reporter there saw fire trucks move to extinguish a blaze started by the blast.
Police initially reported that the residential compound was the target of the attack. The camp houses contractors from various countries, European diplomatic personnel and United Nations employees.
It is located on the main highway connecting Kabul to the eastern city of Jalalabad and is surrounded by layers of blast walls and has dozens of armed guards.
Green Village was last attacked by a suicide car bomber and armed attackers on May 2, 2012, and a number of Afghan guards were killed. None of its residents was injured in that assault.
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Associated Press writer Patrick Quinn contributed to this report.
