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OCTOBER 30, 2011

Afghan Insurgents Kill 13 Americans in Car Bomb

By DION NISSENBAUM And ZIAULHAQ SULTANI

KABUL--A Taliban insurgent driving a vehicle packed with explosives slammed into a U.S. military convoy in Kabul on Saturday, killing at least 13 Americans inside an armored vehicle, according to Western officials and eyewitnesses in Afghanistan.

The midday attack, which also killed at least four Afghans, was believed to be the deadliest strike on American forces in the relatively secure Afghan capital in a decade of war.

NATO's International Security Assistance Force said that those killed were five ISAF soldiers and eight civilian employees.

U.S. Gen. John R. Allen, commander of coalition forces in Afghanistan, said he was "saddened and outraged" by Saturday's attacks. "The enemies of peace are not martyrs, but murderers," he said.

The Kabul bombing was the worst in a series of attacks across Afghanistan on Saturday, showcasing the insurgency's resilience despite recent coalition assertions of reversing the war's momentum.

In the southern Uruzgan province, an Afghan army officer opened fire on his Western comrades, killing three Australian soldiers and an Afghan interpreter, according to the U.S.-led coalition and Western officials.

The attacks came a day after a new Pentagon report hailed a summer drop in violence as a sign that the insurgency is losing steam. Top military officials in Afghanistan argued that President Barack Obama's military surge of 30,000 extra forces had reversed the Taliban momentum and given the U.S.-led coalition a new advantage.

The Taliban immediately claimed responsibility for the Kabul car bomb, which hit a military convoy on one of the city's busiest roads that runs past the country's parliament and the Darulaman Palace, built by Afghanistan's king in the 1920s.

The Taliban appear to have conducted extensive surveillance of the routes and claimed that the bomber hit the convoy of U.S. military trainers that traveled on this road every day to and from the sprawling coalition base at the Kabul airport.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the attacker was driving a land cruiser filled with more than 1,500 pounds of explosives when he hit the convoy.

Gen. Allen said, "To hide the fact that they are losing territory, support and the will to fight, our common enemy continues to employ suicide attackers to kill innocent Afghan fathers, mothers, sons and daughters, as well as the coalition forces who have volunteered to protect them,"

"It's a shock," U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker told a small group of reporters at the embassy minutes after learning of the death toll. "It makes you mad. It makes me angry. We are not going to let these guys win."

A similar attack on the same road killed 18 people, including five U.S. and Canadian officers, in May 2010.

Saturday's attack was the most deadly for American forces in Afghanistan since August, when a Taliban fighter fired a rocket propelled grenade at a Chinook transport helicopter, killing 38 people, including 17 U.S. Navy SEALS.

Kabul resident Gul Agha said he was coming out of a nearby hospital when he saw a minivan trying to overtake the convoy. A massive armed transport, known as a Rhino, tried to intercept the vehicle as it exploded.

"I was so scared I went back into the hospital," he said.

The blast sent a tall black plume of smoke billowing over the road as ambulances rushed to the scene.

Military helicopters landed near the scene to transport the victims to nearby hospitals.

The blast also killed three Afghan civilians and one policeman, according to the Afghan interior ministry.

Meanwhile, in eastern Afghanistan, a female suicide bomber wearing a burqa also tried to hit government offices, according to Afghan news reports.

The U.S. military report said that insurgent attacks had fallen for five consecutive months, defying predictions and suggesting that the insurgency is in disarray.

At the same time, targeted assassinations, like the killing last month of the country's top peace negotiator, were up 60% this year, according to military officials. That suggests that the insurgency has adapted to the surge and is changing its tactics.