KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A Taliban suicide bomber detonated a truck full of explosives today in eastern Afghanistan, killing three Afghan civilians and wounding more than 90 people, including several Afghan and NATO troops, officials said.
The early morning explosion in Maidan Shahr, the capital of Wardak province, also destroyed or damaged several government offices and a local prison, said provincial spokesman Shahidullah Shahid.
The blast occurred in an area that is home to government offices, the provincial governor’s office, police headquarters, a prison and a coordination center used by international and Afghan security forces.
Shahid said two men and a woman were killed and 90 people — 75 men, 11 women and four children — were wounded.
U.S. Army Maj. Adam Wojack, a spokesman for the international military coalition, said a half-dozen NATO soldiers also received minor injuries in the explosion.
Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the bombing, saying in a statement to media that it was in response to the recent execution of four Taliban detainees at the Afghan government’s main detention center in Kabul.
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