3 die in internet cafe blast
2005-05-08 10:40
Kabul - The toll from a weekend bombing at an internet cafe in the Afghan capital Kabul rose on Sunday to three dead including the suspected suicide bomber and six wounded, a spokesperson for Nato-led troops said.
The dead included one unidentified Filipino man, according to Afghanistan's interior ministry.
"Totally three people have been confirmed dead - one was a Philippine national," interior ministry spokesperson Lutfullah Mashal told AFP.
The explosion occurred about 18:00 and destroyed the cafe in the Shar-i-Nao district. Blood was visible on the computers. A body blown to pieces lay by the toilet door.
"Three people were killed, including the suicide bomber, and six wounded," International Security Assistance Force spokesperson Richard Hesser told AFP.
He said that all the victims identified as of late on Saturday, when the toll stood at two dead and five wounded, were Afghans.
"It was a terrorist act but we haven't yet determined whether it was caused by a homemade bomb or a suicide attack," city police chief Mohammad Akram Khakrizwal said earlier.
Suicide attack
Interior ministry spokesperson Lutfullah Mashal said authorities "strongly believe that it was the result of a suicide attack".
It was the first explosion in Kabul since April 24 when a car bomb detonated in a residential neighbourhood, without causing any casualties. Taliban militants claimed responsibility for that incident.
The last suicide bombing in Kabul occurred on October 23 when an American tourist and an Afghan girl were killed.
Violence has spiralled in southern and southeastern Afghanistan since the country's harshest winter in a decade came to an end and allowed poorly equipped Taliban militants to mount new, near-daily attacks.
The Islamic hardline regime is still fighting to rid the country of the US-led troops who helped oust them three and a half years ago in the wake of the September 11 attacks which killed about 3 000 people in the United States, and for which al-Qaeda claimed responsibility.