(Agencies)
Updated: 2007-10-02 14:33

This photo released by the US military on Sunday, Sept. 30, 2007, shows pictures of 12 wanted Taliban and al-Qaida leaders. [Agencies]

Kabul - A suicide bomber boarded a police bus just after a woman and her two children got on, setting off a blast Tuesday that blew the roof off the bus and killed at least 12 people, including several children, officials and witnesses said.

The explosion -- the second such attack in Kabul in four days -- came at a bus stop serving civilians and police.

Ahmad Saqi, a 20-year-old mechanic, said he helped put seven people in vehicles for runs to the hospital, and that several of those people had no legs. He said he saw at least four dead children.

"One woman was holding a baby in her arms, and they were both killed," Saqi said. "Half of the woman's face was blown off."

At least 12 people were killed, said Ahmad Zia Aftali, chief of Kabul's military hospital.

One witness told Afghan investigators he thinks a man wearing a pakul -- an Afghan hat commonly worn in the country's north -- and a shawl around the upper half of his body called a chador set off the explosion.

Amin Gul said he first saw several police board the bus, followed by the bomber.

"When the bus came, an old man entered the bus, then a woman with two children, then the guy wearing the chador entered, and then a big boom," said Gul.

The seats in the front of the bus were covered in blood and small body parts, and a reporter at the scene said he thought there would be few survivors among people sitting there.

Several people waiting at the bus stop suspected the bomber of having explosives because he let one police bus go by without boarding it, said Saqi and another shop owner, Ajmal Khan.

Tuesday's explosion is the third attack in four months against police or army buses.

On Saturday a suicide bomber wearing an army uniform blew himself up next to an army bus in Kabul, killing 30 people. In June a bomb ripped through a bus carrying police instructors in Kabul, killing 35 people, the deadliest insurgent attack since the 2001 US-led invasion.

Meanwhile, a new US "most-wanted" campaign is offering up to $200,000 for information on a dozen elusive Taliban and al-Qaida leaders fueling a rise in bombings and suicide attacks in Afghanistan.

Elsewhere, militants hanged a teenager for having American money in his pocket and stuffed five $1 bills into his mouth as a warning not to use US currency.

      1   2   3     

      1   2   3