Suicide bomb attack in Kabul on US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel's first visit

A suicide bomber on a bicycle killed nine and badly wounded several more when he detonated his device outside the Afghan defence ministry during the inaugural visit by the American defence secretary.

U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel speaks to members of the U.S. Army 101st Airborne Division at Jalalabad Airfield in eastern Afghanistan.

Taliban insurgents quickly claimed responsibility for the morning blast, saying it would send a message to Chuck Hagel, the newly-appointed US defence secretary, who was making his first visit to the Afghan capital.

Around half an hour later another suicide attacker killed nine at a checkpoint in the south eastern city of Khost.

George Little, Pentagon spokesman, told the AP news agency that Mr Hagel was being briefed at a US base on the other side of the Afghan capital when the Kabul blast struck.

The bomber cycled up to the main civilian gate to the Afghan defence ministry and detonated his vest as people queued to enter. All nine dead were civilians and thirteen people, including one soldier, were wounded.

Abdul Ghafoor, a witness at the scene, said: "I saw dead bodies and wounded victims lying everywhere. Then random shooting started and we escaped from the area."

Mr Hagel had told some of America's 66,000 troops in the country on Friday that they were "still at war," despite an aggressive reduction in forces from Afghanistan before all Nato combat troops leave at the end of next year.
The attack was "not a direct attack to target him [Hagel] but we want to send a message that we are always capable of hitting Kabul even when the top US defence official is there," Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said.
In the second blast, a policeman spotted the bomber near a checkpoint close to the American Salerno base, in Khost province.
"The policeman challenged him and the man didn't stop, so the policeman opened fire," a provincial spokesman said.
The suicide bomber detonated, killing the policeman and at least eight others, mainly young children. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for that blast.
Meanwhile, the ceremony to complete the handover of the controversial US military prison at Bagram to Afghan control was cancelled after a deal between the two governments apparently fell through at the last minute.