Bomb blast hits Afghan police bus, at least 16 hurt

KABUL, Oct 10 (Reuters) A remote-controlled bomb planted on a parked bicycle exploded near a police bus in the Afghan capital today, wounding more than 10 policemen and several civilians.

The Taliban, which has ramped up suicide attacks across the country and in the capital this year, claimed responsibility.

Senior police officer Ali Shah Paktiawal said the bomb was detonated as the bus carrying police passed in a densely crowded neighbourhood north of the city centre. Witnesses said three bystanders and three people in a passing car were also wounded.

The explosion during the morning rush hour in the crowded city is the latest in an increasing series of bombings in Kabul, many of them suicide attacks.

On September 30, a dozen people, including policemen and civilians, were killed when a suicide bomber detonated explosives he was carrying at the entrance of the Interior Ministry.

Suicide attacks, still far less common in Afghanistan than Iraq, have killed about 200 people this year, according to NATO figures, compared with 50-60 last year.

Fighting in Afghanistan this year is the worst it has been since US-led forces ousted the Taliban in 2001.

More than 2,500 people, most of them rebels according to foreign commanders, have been killed in the Taliban-led insurgency and a series of military operations since the start of the year.

Among those killed are more 140 foreign soldiers and scores of civilians and Afghan soldiers and police.

Reuters LL GC1231