NATO-led forces said Sunday a Taliban suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden truck into the entrance of a coalition outpost in central Afghanistan, killing at least four Afghan civilians and wounding more than 100 people.
The coalition said 77 American soldiers and some 25 Afghan civilians were among those injured in the blast outside the main gate to the Combat Outpost Sayed Abad in Wardak province southwest of Kabul. It said none of the injuries were life-threatening.
Local officials said the brunt of the explosion was absorbed by the protective barrier at the entrance, but that about 100 shops in the area were damaged.
The explosion occurred on the eve of the 10th anniversary of the September 11 terror attacks against the United States.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for Saturday's bombing. In an e-mailed statement, the group accused the United States of using the 2001 attacks as a pretext for the subsequent invasion of Afghanistan. The Islamists said that Afghans have an "endless stamina for a long war."
In other violence Saturday, at least 10 Afghan civilians were killed in two separate roadside bombings. Also, a NATO soldier died in an insurgent attack in eastern Afghanistan.
The United States and its allies invaded Afghanistan on October 7, 2001 after the Taliban, who at the time ruled the country, refused to hand over al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden who masterminded the terror attacks.
Bin Laden was killed May 2, 2011 by U.S. special forces during a raid on his compound in the northern Pakistani city of Abbottabad.
