Taliban bomber strikes near US base in Kabul

A suicide bomber struck near a US military base in Kabul on Friday, wounding foreign soldiers and Afghan civilians less than a week before the inauguration of President Hamid Karzai. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, one of a rising number of bombings in the Afghan capital. Friday's attack also underscored the perils facing the more than 100,000 NATO and US troops in Afghanistan as US President Barack Obama weighs whether to deploy up to 40,000 more soldiers in an effort to stabilise the country. NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in a statement said nine ISAF service members, 10 civilian contractors and several Afghans were injured in the bombing.