UPDATE2-Suicide bomber attacks outside Kabul market-police

26 Feb 2010 03:31:05 GMT
Source: Reuters
(For more coverage of Afghanistan, double click on [nAFPAK])

KABUL, Feb 26 (Reuters) - A suicide bomber blew himself up near the entrance to Kabul's biggest shopping centre early on Friday, Afghan police said, another brazen attack in the capital despite a renewed military push against the Taliban.

They had no details about casualties, but few people were in the vicinity of the City Centre shopping area when the blast went off early in the morning at the start of the Afghan weekend. At least one other blast was reported by television channels.

The latest in a series of sporadic attacks in the city was also near a hotel used by Westerners but it was unclear exactly what the bomber's target had been.

Police later exchanged gunshots with another suspected attacker. Thick smoke could be seen rising above the area.

Shattered glass littered the street on a wet, dreary morning in Kabul as Afghan security forces rushed to secure the area.

The blast was one of the biggest attacks in the capital since Taliban gunmen launched a brazen assault on several targets in the centre of the city on Jan. 18, heavily armed militants fighting a pitched battle in another shopping centre.

U.S. and other NATO-led foreign forces have pushed back against the Taliban after violence across Afghanistan last year hit its worst levels since the Islamist militants were ousted by U.S.-backed Afghan forces in late 2001.

Earlier this month, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force launched a big offensive in southern Helmand to drive the Taliban out of their last major stronghold in Afghanistan's most violent province.

The Taliban over the past 18 months have spread out of their strongholds in the south and the east to formerly more peaceful areas in the north and west, sometimes reaching the capital despite a dramatic increase in the number of foreign troops.

The latest operation in Helmand is an early test of U.S. President Barack Obama's plan to add 30,000 troops to win control of Taliban bastions and hand them over to Afghan authorities before the start of a gradual U.S. troop withdrawal in 2011.

(Reporting by Michael Georgy; Writing by Paul Tait; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan) (For more Reuters coverage of Afghanistan and Pakistan, see: http://www.reuters.com/news/globalcoverage/afghanistanpakistan)