Taliban suicide car bombing kills four near Kabul: officials

A total of 41 people, most of them civilians, are injured

KABUL: A Taliban suicide car bomber killed four people on Wednesday and injured dozens more on the outskirts of the Afghan capital Kabul, police said.

A total of 41 people, most of them civilians, were injured when the bomber targeted the local district administration compound in the town of Paghman, said a police spokesman, Ebadullah Karimi.

"At around 10:30 this morning a suicide attacker detonated his explosive-packed car next to the Paghman district headquarters. Two police officers and two civilians have been killed, a further 41 have been injured," Karimi said.

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A senior police officer was among the dead, Karimi added. Paghman is 20 kilometres west of Kabul.

The account was confirmed by the interior ministry deputy spokesman Najib Danish.

The Taliban, who have been waging a bloody insurgency since their regime was toppled in late 2001, claimed responsibility for the attack.

Afghanistan has witnessed escalating violence since the insurgents launched their spring offensive in April.

Nearly 1,600 civilians were killed and 3,329 injured in the first half of this year, according to UN figures.

NATO ended its combat mission in Afghanistan last December and pulled out the bulk of its troops, although a 13,000-strong residual force remains for training and counter-terrorism operations.