Taliban Attack near Bulgaria's Mission in Kabul Kills at Least 9

The inside of a supermarket moments after a suicide attack that killed at least nine people. Photo by the New York Times

The Taliban has claimed responsibility for an explosion in a supermarket in Kabul’s diplomatic district, which killed at least nine people, including five foreign women and one child.

The suicide bomb attack occurred on Friday afternoon, the New York Times reported, adding that the Taliban said the strike aimed at killing the head of the US private security company Blackwater.

The Bulgarian daily “24 Chasa” informed that according to information from the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry, there have not been any Bulgarian diplomats or rangers at the Bulgarian Embassy to Kabul at the time of the attack.

The Taliban have singled out Blackwater because “they are invaders and, secondly, they are protecting the invaders,” their spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid said after the attack.

Blackwater is a private security firm now known as Xe Services. It has contracts in Afghanistan with the US government and has come to symbolize the heavily armed mercenary armies that work for foreigners, but particularly for Americans, in war zones.

The suicide bombing destroyed the entire floor of the Finest Supermarket, a store located in a normally peaceful neighborhood heavily populated by diplomats and foreigners.

In addition to the foreign women, four Afghans were also killed and 17 people were wounded, according to a senior Afghan security official.

Witnesses said the attack began with gunfire, followed by at least one explosion inside the store.

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