**Afghanistan’s President, Hamid Karzai, has condemned a suicide bombing outside Nato’s military headquarters in Kabul, which killed seven people and hurt 90.**A female Afghan member of parliament, Hawa Nuristani, was among the injured.
Mr Karzai insisted the attack, inside the capital’s fortified security area, would not deter Afghans from voting in Thursday’s presidential election.
The Taliban have said they carried out the bombing, but correspondents say it bears the hallmarks of another group.
The Haqqani network, named after the veteran militant Jalaluddin Haqqani, has been blamed for two major attacks in Kabul since 2008.
‘Isolated attack’
The blast hit the capital’s diplomatic quarter, where the presidential palace and several embassies are also located, at about 0830 (0400 GMT) on Saturday, sending a huge cloud of black smoke into the sky.
The bomber had managed to evade several Afghan police checkpoints and blow up his about 30m from the entrance of the headquarters of the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (Isaf).
Afterwards, sirens blared as police and ambulances rushed to the area which was sealed off by Isaf troops, several of whom were hurt.
“We were expecting some kind of attack. All measures have been taken on the electoral side… and I’m quite confident that things will go well”
Zalmay Rassoul
Afghan National Security Adviser
“As I was walking into the Nato compound I heard a loud explosion and fell to the ground,” one man, Ahmad, told the BBC.
“People were screaming and I saw flames from the headquarters. We all left the area, as we were worried there might be a second bomb.”
Isaf spokesman Brig Gen Eric Tremblay told Reuters news agency the suicide bomber had “entered our defensive system and was blocked by the Afghan army” and then decided to detonate the car.
“It was an isolated attack. It’s not a complex attack,” he said.
Polling stations ‘protected’
President Karzai condemned the bombing and said Afghans would not be deterred from voting in the presidential and provincial elections.
ANALYSIS
Ian Pannell, BBC News, KabulThis is one of the most heavily guarded streets in Kabul. You have to go past huge concrete blast walls. There are men with guns almost everywhere, Afghan forces, international forces. There are barriers and chicanes. It is not an easy area to get into.Security sources are telling us there isn’t enough co-ordination between the different security agencies, the Afghan security forces, the police, the special forces and the international forces and that has created a real sense that they are not on top of the security situation.
It is very surprising the attackers were able to get into this area. Normally you have to show a pass, the car is looked at, the passengers are questioned. But it seems they were able to get past the first checkpoints and approach the Nato headquarters where the bomb exploded.
“The enemies of Afghanistan try to create fear among people in this election period but people still realise the importance of going to ballot boxes to cast their votes,” he said in a statement.
Afghans “are not afraid of any threats, and they will cast their votes”, he added.
The president’s national security adviser, Zalmay Rassoul, told the BBC that he remained confident that the elections would go ahead without major disruption.
“Kabul has been relatively safe. The morale of the people is very high, with a tremendous enthusiasm to go and vote,” he said.
“We were expecting some kind of attack. All measures have been taken on the electoral side, so the sites will be protected, and I’m quite confident that things will go well,” he added.
Mr Rassoul said each site would be guarded by an inner circle of Afghan police, another manned by the Afghan National Army, and an outer ring of Isaf troops.
The Taliban, which claimed responsibility for Saturday’s attack, have said they will target polling stations and threatened reprisals against votes.
The BBC’s Martin Patience in Kabul says there will be real concern that there will be more attacks in the city in coming days.
He says strikes inside the capital are relatively rare but have tended to be big ones, as was the case in February when several gunmen, some wearing suicide vests, attacked the Ministry of Justice.
In July 2008, a massive car bomb killed more than 50 Afghans and two diplomats outside the Indian embassy.
These two attacks were believed to have been carried out by the Haqqani network, our correspondent says.
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