One dead in Kabul attack on firm supplying NATO forces

In this file photo, Afghan policemen are seen standing guard at a checkpoint in Kabul, on March 23, 2012. A suicide car bomb in Kabul struck a foreign logistics company supplying NATO forces, killing one person and wounding three or four others early on Tuesday, police said. (AFP/File)

KABUL (AFP) – A suicide car bomb in Kabul struck a foreign logistics company supplying NATO forces, killing one person and wounding three or four others early on Tuesday, police said.

A plume of smoke rose above the scene of the attack in north of the Afghan capital, which has been hit by a series of recent suicide strikes including on the Supreme Court, the airport and close to the presidential palace.

"Two suicide bombers who wanted to enter the facility were killed by guards," Mohammad Daud Amin, the Kabul deputy police chief, told AFP. "The attack was against a logistics transport company working with international forces.

"One Afghan victim died in the attack. It was a suicide bombing carried out by a large vehicle. Suicide vests were defused at the scene. We evacuated three or four wounded."

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but Taliban insurgents have said they were behind most of the recent strikes in Kabul, which come as pressure grows on the Afghan government to seek a peace deal with the rebels.

The US has been pushing for peace talks to start as 100,000 US-led NATO combat troops prepare to withdraw next year and Afghan forces take on the fight against insurgents.

But a Taliban office in Qatar that opened on June 18 to foster talks instead enraged President Hamid Karzai, who saw it as being styled as an unofficial embassy for a government-in-exile.

He broke off bilateral security talks with the Americans and threatened to boycott any peace process altogether.