Suicide car bomber hits Afghan airport; 9 killed

A suicide car bomber has struck at the gates of Jalalabad airport in eastern Afghanistan, officials said, killing nine people in an attack insurgents said was revenge for U.S. troops burning Qurans.          

The early Monday explosion comes after six days of deadly protests in Afghanistan over the disposal of Qurans and other Islamic texts in a burn pit last week at a U.S. military base north of the capital.          

American officials have called the incident a mistake and issued a series of apologies. Afghan President Hamid Karzai has urged calm, saying that Afghans should not let the insurgents capitalize on their indignation to spark violence.     

Monday's attack appeared to be a sign that the Taliban are seizing the opportunity to do just that.          

The bomber drove up to the gates of the airport  which serves both civilian and international military aircraft  shortly after dawn and detonated his explosives in a "very strong" blast, said Nangarhar provincial police spokesman Hazrad Mohammad.           

Among the dead were six civilians, two airport guards and one soldier, Mohammad said. Another six people were wounded, he said.        

NATO forces spokesman Capt. Justin Brockhoff said that no international forces were killed in the early morning attack and that the installation was not breached by the blast.         

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, saying a suicide car bomber had driven up to the airport gate and detonated his explosives as international forces were changing from night to morning guard duty.         

"This attack is revenge against those soldiers who burned our Quran," Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said in an email.        

AP