Aftermath of deadly attack near venue of upcoming meeting, Interior Ministry reax

(16 Nov 2013) A suicide bomber tore through the Afghan capital on Saturday, killing at least six people and injuring another 22. Officials said a car packed with explosives rammed into an armoured vehicle close to the site where thousands of elders are to gather next week to discuss a controversial security agreement with the United States. A spokesman for the Afghan Interior Ministry told the Associated Press that the vehicle had been under police surveillance prior to the attack. "The Afghan Security Forces had the information that this car would be moving to this area and that car was under the trace of the police" said Sediq Sediqi. "Unfortunately he was able to explode the explosives that he had carried in his vehicle," he added. The explosion came just hours after President Hamid Karzai announced that US and Afghan negotiators had finished a draft deal to be presented to the Loya Jirga. The agreement, which will be debated by 3,000 elders, clerics and parliamentarians, calls for US soldiers to remain in Afghanistan after the final withdrawal of international combat troops at the end of 2014. Karzai said the deal is only likely to be signed if the Loya Jirga approves it. No group immediately claimed responsibility for Saturday's attack, though blame is likely to fall on the Taliban, which adamantly opposes the presence of foreign troops in Afghanistan. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...