Suicide car bomb in Afghanistan kills 16 - US convoy

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http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/08afghan.html

KABUL, Afghanistan-- The driver of a car packed with explosives rammed into a U.S. military convoy in downtown Kabul on Friday, killing himself and at least 16 other people, including two American soldiers. Two other American soldiers were among 29 people wounded.

The blast, near the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, came as NATO chiefs appealed for member nations to send reinforcements to combat resurgent Taliban militants. A top British general said the fighting in volatile southern Afghanistan was now more ferocious than in Iraq.

The bomb, one of the worst in Kabul in recent years, blew pieces of an American Humvee and U.S. uniforms into trees, which were set alight by the explosion. The blast shattered windows throughout the downtown area, and a cloud of brown smoke climbed hundreds of feet into the sky. snip

The Kabul blast went off about 50 yards from the landmark Massood Square, which leads to the main gate of the heavily fortified U.S. Embassy compound. It dug a 6-foot-wide crater and left a carnage of body parts, Muslim prayer caps, floppy khaki-colored military hats and shoes.