AFGHANISTAN:A suicide bomber killed 28 Afghan troops and two civilians on Saturday in an attack on an army bus in Kabul.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, the deadliest in the Afghan capital since the hardline Islamist movement was ousted from power for harbouring al-Qaeda leaders following the September 11th, 2001, attacks on the United States.
A suicide bomber dressed in an army uniform got on the bus carrying Afghan national army personnel to work, the defence ministry said. The explosion split the bus in two and shattered shop windows in a central district of the capital.
Police and soldiers piled bodies on to army vehicles. Residents also helped remove the victims' remains.
A boy stood crying next to a police cordon saying he was looking for his father who sold cigarettes from a hand-cart next to the site of the bomb.
President Hamid Karzai condemned the blast, which he said killed 28 soldiers and two civilians.
"It was an act of extreme cowardice on the part of those that committed it," Mr Karzai told reporters at his heavily fortified palace. "No doubt someone who did this was against people, against humanity, definitely against Islam."
The UN Security Council also condemned the attack in a statement and reiterated concern about "the increasing threat to the local population, national security forces, international military and international assistance efforts".
A soldier from the International Security Assistance Force was killed in a clash with Taliban rebels in eastern Afghanistan on Saturday, a spokesman for the Nato-led force said.
Meanwhile, a Taliban spokesman said yesterday it would "never" negotiate with Afghan authorities until US and Nato forces left the country, again rebuffing an overture for peace talks from the president.
Mr Karzai said yesterday he would be willing to meet personally Taliban leader Mullah Omar and to give militants a position in government in exchange for peace.
Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi however repeated a position he announced earlier this month, saying there would be no negotiations until the US and Nato troops withdrew from Afghanistan.
"The Taliban will never negotiate with the Afghan government in the presence of foreign forces," Mr Ahmadi said. "Even if Karzai gives up his presidency, it's not possible that Mullah Omar would agree to negotiations. The foreign forces don't have the authority to talk about Afghanistan." - ( Reuters, AP )