Suicide Bomber Rams His Car into NATO Convoy and Commuter Bus, 18 Killed

A suicide car bomber deployed by the Taliban rammed into a NATO convoy and a commuter bus filled with Afghan civilians at rush hour this morning, killing 18 people – including five American troops.

Photo: Suicide Bomber Rams His Car into NATO Convoy and Commuter Bus, 18 Killed

Suicide Bomber Rams His Car into NATO Convoy and Commuter Bus, 18 Killed

NATO, U.S. and Afghan officials described the attack and gave death tolls to several news agencies. The Taliban claimed responsibility for it on a website and in phone calls to foreign media, saying its bomber, a local Kabul man, was driving a Toyota minivan packed with 1,650 pounds of explosives, AOL News informs .

Zabiullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman, said the attack occurred at 8:15 a.m. (11:45 p.m. Monday ET), and that the attacker was able to "destroy five foreign vehicles and damage one more."

A NATO spokesman confirmed that five U.S. military vehicles were destroyed along with 13 civilian vehicles. One of the civilian vehicles was a bus filled with people. Hours after the blast, a nearby field was littered with charred body parts, some thrown hundreds of meters from the blast site, CNN reports.