Suicide car bomb kills NATO peacekeeper in Kabul

A suicide attacker rammed a car laden with explosives into a convoy of NATO-led peacekeepers in the Afghan capital Monday, killing at least one NATO soldier and wounding two other troops and six Afghans, police said. A local police commander, Pashtun, who uses only one name and was at the scene of the blast, said the soldiers were German, though this could not immediately be confirmed.

An AP reporter said he saw the body of the slain soldier lying on the ground under a Mercedes four-wheel-drive military vehicle that bore the brunt of the blast. Troops carried a wounded soldier on a stretcher to an ambulance.

The blast occurred on a main road in front the headquarters of organizers of last September's legislative elections. Dozens of International Security Assistance Force soldiers had cordoned off the area.

Bits of the Toyota Corolla sedan that the attacker used were strewn across the road.

Pashtun said one ISAF soldier was killed and two others wounded. He said two Afghan police and four civilians were also wounded.

ISAF spokesman Capt. Michele Chortese confirmed the car bombing and said there had been "some casualties." He said wounded ISAF soldiers had been taken to hospital.

ISAF has about 12,000 soldiers from 36 nations in Afghanistan and is responsible for security in Kabul as well as northern and western regions. A separate 20,000-strong U.S.-led coalition is in volatile eastern and southern parts.

Violence has increased recently as Taliban-led rebels have stepped up attacks to undermine President Hamid Karzai's U.S.-backed government. Almost 1,500 people have been killed this year, the deadliest since the Taliban's ouster in 2001, reports the AP. I.L.