Car bomber targets Afghan court staff, 14 dead

Taliban claim responsibility for suicide attack which killed 14 civilians and wounded 38 others.

KABUL: A suicide car bomber on Tuesday rammed a bus packed with staff of Afghanistan's top court, killing 14 and wounding 38 in the second attack in two days in the heavily fortified capital, police said.

All those injured or killed in the powerful explosion outside the Supreme Court and near the US embassy were civilians and included women and children, officials said.

The Afghan Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack.

General Mohammad Zahir, head of Kabul criminal investigations, said the bomber rammed a bus carrying Supreme Court staff. Officials said it happened at around 4 pm (1130 GMT), which is the end of the working day in Afghanistan.

"A suicide bomb hit at the back of a Coaster causing lots of civilian casualties, dead and wounded. I'm at the scene and can't talk more," Zahir told AFP.

"We have 14 dead and 38 wounded. It was a car bombing that directly hit the Supreme Court bus."

Zahir said all the casualties are civilians and include women and children. "Most of the casualties are Supreme Court employees."

An AFP photographer saw the wreckage of a car, mangled buses and shattered, burnt bodies of the victims on the main road leading to the airport.

On Monday seven Taliban insurgents were killed after launching a gun and grenade attack on military buildings near the airport's perimeter fence.

The response from Afghan security forces to that assault was widely praised as a sign of their growing professionalism, as they take over responsibility from 100,000 US-led foreign combat troops who will pull out by the end of next year.

On May 24 Taliban militants launched a coordinated suicide and gun assault on a compound in Kabul of the International Organisation for Migration.

A policeman, two civilians and all four militants died in that attack, and Afghan security forces won credit for an effective response.

Tuesday's blast was the deadliest in Kabul since May 16 when a suicide car bomb struck a foreign military convoy, killing 15 people including five Americans.

Earlier Tuesday, the UN representative in Afghanistan said the Taliban have indicated that they are willing to discuss how to reduce civilian casualties.

Jan Kubis said the militants had agreed to hold talks with the UN and discuss the issue of civilian deaths, which rose by 24 per cent in the first half of 2013 compared to last year.

"I can confirm that we sent publicly and also through our channels a signal of our willingness to discuss with Taliban issues of human rights... civilian casualties and how to reduce them," he told reporters.

"I can confirm that we received signals about their willingness and readiness to discuss these issues with us. I welcome this," he added.

He said the UN had registered 2,499 civilian casualties between January and June, attributing 74 per cent to anti-government forces and nine per cent to pro-government forces.

Children accounted for 21 per cent of all civilians killed and wounded. Casualties caused by makeshift bombs called IEDs -- the Taliban's weapon of choice-- had risen 41 per cent.

Taliban's statement

The Afghan Taliban, claiming responsibility for the attack, said it was carried out to punish Afghan judges for sentencing to death Taliban prisoners held by the Afghan government.

"Today's attack was a warning should they (judges) continue to give tyrannical verdicts and intimidate (our) countrymen," said a copy of their statement sent to AFP.