A powerful suicide bombing hit Afghan capital Kabul Thursday, killing at least 16 people including six Italian soldiers and injuring over 50 others, mostly civilians.

A woman is comforted at the site of a blast in Kabul September 17, 2009. A suicide car bomb hit an Italian military convoy on a road between the US embassy and the main airport in the centre of Kabul on Thursday, killing at least sixteen people and wounding dozens, Afghan and Italian officials said. [Xinhua]

It was a suicide car bomb as the driver blew it up on the road linking US embassy and NATO's headquarters to Kabul airport causing the fatalities.

Several cars including two armored personnel carriers of the Italian troops serving within the framework of NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) were seen crippled at the site of the blast.

Mohammad Zahir Azimi, spokesman of Defence Ministry, said the blast left at least 10 civilians dead and some 52 others wounded.

Meantime, Italian Defence Ministry, according to media report, confirmed that the suicide attack targeting Italian troops destroyed two armoured vehicles and killed six soldiers aboard.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid later claimed responsibility of the incident.

This attack in Afghan capital came just in the wake of the preliminary full result of presidential elections was announced on Wednesday in the post-Taliban country.

An Italian soldier stands in front of a burned truck after an explosion in Kabul September 17, 2009. A suicide car bomb hit an Italian military convoy on a road between the US embassy and the main airport in the centre of Kabul on Thursday, killing at least sixteen people and wounding dozens, Afghan and Italian officials said. [Xinhua]

(Xinhua News Agency September 17, 2009)