AP on yahooo
KABUL, Afghanistan - A massive explosion rocked the Afghan capital late Wednesday near the diplomatic area where the U.S. Embassy is located.
A large plume of white smoke rose into the air.
Bomber killed in Afghan attack; Canadians hurt
JALALABAD, Afghanistan (Reuters) - A car bomb blew up as its driver tried to ram a U.S. military convoy in Afghanistan on Wednesday, while in a separate incident, two Canadian soldiers were wounded in a roadside blast.
The attacks came as the commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan met Afghan and Pakistani commanders for security talks including ways to combat a wave of bombings.
Jalalabad police spokesman Abdul Ghafour said U.S. troops shot dead the suicide car-bomber as he tried to ram a convoy and seconds later his explosives detonated.
U.S. military spokeswoman Lieutenant Tamara Lawrence said the driver was killed in a blast as he approached the U.S. convoy.
"Indications we have now is that no shots were fired," Lawrence said.
Violence has surged in Afghanistan in recent weeks since the Taliban announced last month they had launched a spring offensive in their campaign to rid the country of foreign forces.
Dozens of people, including many insurgents, have been killed in a wave of suicide and roadside bombs, ambushes and clashes.
A roadside blast hit a Canadian forces vehicle in the southern province of Helmand, wounding two soldiers.
One of them men was slightly wounded and the other was under observation for a wound that was not life-threatening, said Canadian forces spokeswoman Captain Julie Roberge.
The blast happened in a the same area a Canadian and an American soldier were killed during a Taliban attack on a base last month.
Two U.S. soldiers were wounded by a roadside bomb in the southern province of Zabul on Tuesday.
While foreign troops and Afghan security forces grapple with a blitz of bombings, violence has also surged in Pakistan's tribal lands on the Afghan border, where al Qaeda-linked militants and tribesmen have been battling security forces.
Pakistani, U.S. and Afghan military officials held a meeting of their so-called Tripartite Commission in Pakistan on Wednesday and discussed the threat of bombs and ways to step up coordination along the border.
Relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan have been rocked in recent months by fresh Afghan complaints that insurgents are able to launch attacks into Afghanistan from the safety of Pakistani territory.
Pakistan has dismissed the Afghan complaints and raised questions about the growing influence of its old rival, India, in Afghanistan.
The United States has been trying to promote closer cooperation between its two important allies in the war on terrorism.
ap update
Huge Explosion Rocks Afghan Capital
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060419/ap_on_re_as/afghan_explosion_2
KABUL, Afghanistan - A massive explosion rocked downtown Kabul late Wednesday near its diplomatic area where the U.S. Embassy is located. A large plume of white smoke rose into the air.
The source of the blast was not immediately clear. Emergency vehicle sirens could be heard speeding to the area of the blast.
U.S. Embassy spokesman Lou Fintor could not confirm if the blast targeted the heavily guarded American diplomatic mission, where staff rushed to a bunker in the compound after the blast.
"We are trying to determine what has happened and locate the source of the explosion," Fintor told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.
Celebrating the 1 year anniversary of the new pope?
Sounds like my truck starting up.