Suicide blast near US Kabul embassy, 16 dead

KABUL, Sep 8 (Reuters) A devastating suicide car bombing in Kabul today, the worst for months, killed 16 people including seven foreigners, rescuers and police said.

The blast ripped through one of Kabul's busiest, most protected streets just outside the US embassy. Al Jazeera television reported that at least three American soldiers had been killed.

The explosion occurred at a big intersection less than 100 metres from the heavily fortified embassy.

Taliban fighters began using suicide attacks late last year as part of a strategy to harry Western forces in Afghanistan and destabilise President Hamid Karzai's government.

More than 2,000 people have been killed this year due to a Taliban resurgence that has led to the heaviest fighting since US-led troops toppled the hard-line Islamists in 2001.

While most of the violence has come in the Taliban's southern heartland, there have been increasing attacks in Kabul.

REUTERS PB VV1314