Three dead in suicide attack on Kabul airbase

The attack, which came with Afghanistan on edge over the marathon count from disputed elections, wounded six Afghan civilians along with three US soldiers and one from Belgium, officials said.

"It was a suicide attack outside the main gate of the military base at the airport," said Colonel Koziel Bart, a spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).

Bart said the airbase had been sealed off. Military air traffic resumed after an hour-long suspension.

(...) Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid, claiming the attack, told AFP by telephone that 500 kilograms (1,102 pounds) of explosives were used.

Witnesses said the shell of the vehicle used by the suicide attacker was still burning, spewing a huge cloud of black smoke into the blue autumn sky.

Soldiers cordoned off the area, as fire engines and military and civilian ambulances rushed to the scene.

"At 8:19 am (0321 GMT) a suicide attacker detonated his SUV vehicle near the eastern gate of the airport, killing three civilian Afghans who were passing by and wounding six other civilians," said Sayed Abdul Ghafar Sayedzada, Kabul's criminal investigations police chief.

One of the injured was in critical condition, he said.