The 2009 NATO Afghanistan headquarters bombing occurred on August 15, 2009, when a

Taliban The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalist, militant Islamist, jihadist, and Pasht ...

suicide bomber A suicide attack is any violent attack, usually entailing the attacker detonating an explosive, where the attacker has accepted their own death as a direct result of the attacking method used. Suicide attacks have occurred throughout histor ...

detonated himself outside the

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

headquarters in

Kabul Kabul (; ps, , ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province; it is administratively divided into 22 municipal districts. Acco ...

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

. The bomber killed at least seven people and injured 91.

Attack

The bomber drove his automobile undetected through three or fewer police-checkpoints before detonating his explosive payload, estimated as variously and , from the main gate of the NATO base. The attack, coming five days before the country's presidential elections, was the first major attack in the capital since February.

Aftermath

The attack wounded 91 people and immediately killed seven civilians, though doctors stated that some patients were in danger of succumbing to injuries later on. Casualties among the military were stated to have been avoided by

ISAF ' ps, کمک او همکاري ' , allies = Afghanistan , opponents = Taliban Al-Qaeda , commander1 = , commander1_label = Commander , commander2 = , commander2_label = , commander3 = , command ...

Brigadier General Eric Tremblay, though he would not give details. The Taliban claimed differently, stating that they had destroyed four vehicles and killed 24 US embassy employees. Among those wounded was parliament member, Awa Alam Nuristani, and a female campaign manager for

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

Hamid Karzai Hamid Karzai (; Pashto/ fa, حامد کرزی, , ; born 24 December 1957) is an Afghan statesman who served as the fourth president of Afghanistan from July 2002 to September 2014, including as the first elected president of the Islamic Repub ...

. After the attacks Karzai declared that "the enemies of Afghanistan, by conducting such attacks, are trying to create fear among the people as we get close to the election, but people still realise the importance of going to ballot boxes to cast their votes." The attack was claimed by a

spokesperson to have been carried out as a method to disrupt the country's second election. The spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, stated that, "One of our suicide bombers in a (

Toyota Hilux The , stylized as HiLux and historically as Hi-Lux, is a series of pickup trucks produced and marketed by the Japanese automobile manufacturer Toyota. The majority of these vehicles are sold as pickup truck or cab chassis variants, although the ...

) Surf vehicle packed with 500 kilograms of explosives targeted the ISAF headquarters... We will continue this kind of operation in the future and we will accelerate our operations against the Afghan and foreign forces." The blast occurred in one of the city's most heavily guarded streets, which runs between the United States Embassy and the presidential palace. The blast did not affect them, nor did it cause substantial damage to the NATO headquarters. It was the first attack on the NATO compound since its construction in 2002. The incident marked the beginning of a wave of intimidation by unknown perpetrators, mostly spread by

telephone call A telephone call is a connection over a telephone network between the called party and the calling party. First telephone call The first telephone call was made on March 10, 1876, by Alexander Graham Bell. Bell demonstrated his ability to "ta ...

s and

text messaging Text messaging, or texting, is the act of composing and sending electronic messages, typically consisting of alphabetic and numeric characters, between two or more users of mobile devices, desktops/laptops, or another type of compatible comput ...

, warning Afghans not to participate in polling at risk of being killed and targeted alongside foreign forces.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:NATO headquarters bombing Mass murder in 2009 Mass murder in Kabul 2009 in Kabul Incidents involving NATO Suicide car and truck bombings in Afghanistan 2009 in Afghanistan Taliban attacks August 2009 events in Asia Attacks on buildings and structures in Afghanistan Terrorist incidents in Kabul Building bombings in Afghanistan Attacks in Afghanistan in 2009

Attack

Aftermath

See also

References