Bomb blast targets NATO forces in Kabul

KABUL, AFGHANISTAN — A powerful blast targeting an armored NATO convoy in Kabul killed at least eight people and wounded 28 Wednesday, including three coalition troops, officials said in an attack claimed by the Islamic State (IS) group.

The explosion, which came during morning rush hour on a busy road near the US embassy and NATO headquarters, killed “mostly” civilians, an interior ministry spokesman told AFP without giving a breakdown.

Three coalition service members received “non- life threatening wounds” but are in stable condition, a spokesman for US Forces-Afghanistan said, without confirming their nationalities.

The attack, claimed by IS via its Amaq propaganda agency, comes three weeks after the US dropped its largest non-nuclear bomb on the jihadist group’s hideouts in eastern Afghanistan, triggering global shockwaves.

NATO commander in Afghanistan General John Nicholson has said the US decision to drop the GBU- 43/ B Massive Ordinance Air Blast in Nangarhar province last month was a “very clear message” to IS: “If they come to Afghanistan they will be destroyed.”

The weapon, dubbed the “Mother of All Bombs,” killed at least 95 jihadists, according to the Afghan defense ministry, but fighting in the area has continued.

The Afghan conflict is the longest in US history — US-led NATO troops have been at war there since 2001, after the ousting of the Taliban regime for refusing to hand over Osama bin Laden following the 9/11 attacks in the United States. —