Blast at hotel complex in Afghan capital kills 2

[February 14, 2011]  KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- A suicide bomber blew himself up at the entrance of a Kabul shopping and hotel complex Monday, killing two security guards in the second attack in less than a month to hit the heavily secured Afghan capital.

The Ministry of Interior said the bomber detonated his explosives at the gates of the Kabul City Center shopping mall, which also the four-star Safi Landmark hotel, which is popular with foreigners. Two people were injured in the blast.

"I was just outside my restaurant and suddenly I heard a huge explosion," said Ahmad Shah, 23, who works in a small restaurant near the Safi Landmark. "I saw a large fire right at the gate of the City Center."

An Associated Press reporter at the scene said the building was surrounded by hundreds of Afghan security forces. The blast destroyed the guarded entrance to the building and blew out windows. Several shops nearby were also damaged.

Severed body parts could be seen near the blast site.

A spokesman for the Taliban, Zabiullah Mujahid, claimed responsibility for the attack in a mobile phone text message sent to reporters.

Government officials, businessmen and foreigners regularly hold meetings at the Safi Landmark.

The Safi was heavily damaged a year ago when suicide attackers struck two residential hotels nearby, killing 20 people, including nine foreigners. After that attack, shops at the center, which sell jewelry, electronics and clothing, were shuttered for months.

City Center is Kabul's first Western-style shopping mall, and is one of the biggest in the capital.

Shopkeepers nearby said the damage appeared to be confined to the guarded entrance area, which was fortified shortly after last year's attack.

It is the first bombing in the capital since Jan. 28 when a suicide attacker blew himself up at an upscale Kabul supermarket, killing eight people.

Elsewhere in Afghanistan, NATO said a homemade bomb killed a coalition service member in the south of the country. It didn't say where exactly the blast occurred or provide the service member's nationality.

Twelve NATO troops have been killed so far this month.

Last year was the deadliest of the nearly decade-long war for international troops, with more than 700 killed, compared to just more than 500 in 2009, which was previously the worst year of the war.

[Associated Press; By RAHIM FAIEZ]

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