by Rachel Morarjee
KABUL, Aug 29 (AFP) - Seven people, including two US citizens, were killed when a truck bomb exploded in downtown Kabul Sunday evening just weeks ahead of Afghanistan's landmark presidential elections, the government said.
A truck loaded with construction wood and packed with explosives detonated just before 6:00 pm (1430 GMT) outside the Kabul office of US security contractor DynCorp, which provides Karzai's bodyguards and trains Afghanistan's fledgling police force.
"Two Americans, three Nepalese and two Afghan nationals, including a child, have been confirmed dead," a statement from President Hamid Karzai's office said.
The deadliest attack to strike Kabul since late last year further marred the already violent run-up to elections scheduled for October 9 -- devastating the Shar-e-Naw district neighborhood that is crowded with United Nations and international aid agency offices.
The powerful blast, which was claimed by the Taliban, destroyed at least eight vehicles and left the street littered with bodies and broken glass, witnesses said.
"It was absolute devastation -- fire, craters and badly injured bodies," said Nick Downie, security co-ordinator for the NGO security body ANSO.
Downie said he thought the death toll was likely to rise.
Earlier, a police official at the site said at least 10 and as many as 15 people had been killed in the bombing.
"The explosion killed around 10 to 15 people, Afghan and foreigners, most of them foreigners," police Major Nasrullmenallah told AFP by telephone.
A doctor at the Kabul Emergency Hospital said the bodies of three Nepalese and two Afghans had been brought to the hospital. Five other Afghans were also brought in with injuries.
More injured were being treated at the Ali Abad Hospital closer to the blast site, added the doctor, who asked not to be named.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the blast in a satellite phone call to AFP from an undisclosed location, saying the bomber had escaped unharmed, while US military spokesman Scott Nelson told AFP that NATO-led peacekeepers had detained one Afghan national in connection with the bombing.
The Afghan capital has been bracing itself for a large-scale bomb attack in recent weeks in the run-up to elections.
Afghan intelligence officials supported by NATO-led peacekeeping troops found 530 kilograms of explosives as well as detonating devices and arrested two militants on Tuesday in a district on the outskirts of Kabul.
Sunday's bombing came a day after 10 people, including four children, were killed in an attack on a religious school in southern Paktia province.
Security across the country has worsened sharply as the elections draw near with a string of attacks on election workers that have left 12 dead since May.
Reconstruction firms, the United Nations and aid workers have also been targetted in recent months, and UN staff had been asked to restrict their movements within the capital Saturday after warnings of an imminent attack on UN offices.
The Taliban have vowed to disrupt the presidential polls, in which over 10 million people have registered to vote.
"The President understands that as the people of Afghanistan move towards elections, the enemies of Afghanistan will expedite their efforts to harm the election process and threaten the people's security and prosperity," Karzai's statement said.
Taliban-led insurgents have mounted a guerrilla insurgency in the south and southeast as well as sporadic attacks in other parts of the country, while western Afghanistan has been the scene of fierce factional battles between rival militias this month.