A suicide bomber has killed five foreign security guards in an attack at a compound in Kabul on Tuesday.
Authorities say the bomber, who was riding a motorcycle, set off his explosives near the entrance of Camp Gibson that houses the counter narcotics department and a foreign security firm. Afghan police say the bomber was wearing a police uniform and was able to get through several checkpoints.
At least two of the guards who were killed were identified as Nepalese.
Six people were wounded in the blast that took place near Kabul's airport.
Local resident Ahmad Zia was nearby when the explosion occurred.
"It was early morning and I was asleep. Suddenly an explosion woke me up," he said. "We were told that there was a suicide attack inside a foreign base. There was human flesh lying outside the base. We tried to go inside the base to find out what happened but there were Americans who didn't let us in."
Taliban claimed responsibility
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, saying 15 "invader soldiers" were killed and many vehicles damaged at what it said was a foreign intelligence base. The insurgent group often exaggerates death tolls and details of its attacks.
The U.S. Embassy in Kabul said Tuesday "attacks like this will not deter the Afghan people and the international community from continuing to work together to further the development of Afghanistan."
The violence comes as the United States is preparing to withdraw most of its forces from Afghanistan by the end of the year. It also comes amid a standoff over the country's presidential election.
Both presidential candidates, Abdullah Abdullah and Ashraf Ghani, have agreed to a United Nations-supervised audit of the June 14 runoff vote. Initial results showed Ghani in the lead by a million votes.
Abdullah rejected the outcome, accusing President Hamid Karzai, election authorities and the Ghani campaign of colluding against him to rig the vote that could lead to the first peaceful transfer of power in Afghanistan’s history.
