Afghan 'revenge' attack kills three, wounds 90

A suicide car bomber killed three people and wounded dozens near a NATO-run training base on Friday, in an attack claimed by the Taliban as revenge for the execution of its militants. Several NATO soldiers were lightly wounded, a spokesman for the US-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said, without giving further details. A police spokesman said the blast was near "a joint coordination office" for the Afghan army, police and NATO troops in Maidan Shar, the capital of Wardak province, some 50 kilometres (30 miles) from Kabul. "From this centre they go for military operations," Abdul Wali told AFP. The base is close to the provincial governor's office and two of his bodyguards were among the dead, his spokesman Shahidullah Shahid told AFP. "We have three killed -- two bodyguards of the governor and a 10-year-old girl. Ninety people were wounded, 75 men, 11 women and four children." Taliban insurgents claimed responsibility for the blast, saying it was to avenge the execution on Wednesday of four Taliban members on death row in Kabul. "It was a car bomb by our mujahed on a military training centre," Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told AFP. "It was a revenge attack by our mujahed in response to the execution of four mujahedeen by the Kabul administration." The four executed Taliban members were among a total of 14 prisoners hanged over two days this week in rare mass executions. The Taliban, who are leading an insurgency against the Western-backed government and 100,000 NATO troops, had warned there would be "heavy repercussions" for government officials if any of their militants were executed. President Hamid Karzai approved the executions of the men who were sentenced to death "on charges of terror, conducting attacks, explosions and organising suicide attacks", the government said. The executions were condemned by the European Union, the United Nations and human rights groups, with many pointing out that Afghanistan's justice system is notoriously weak. The Taliban described the hanged men as "prisoners of war" and had called on the UN and rights groups to prevent their deaths. The Islamists, ousted from power by a US-led invasion in 2001, were notorious for executing people in public for "crimes" including adultery. The killings were often carried out at half-time during games in the main football stadium in Kabul. Suicide attacks are a Taliban trademark. On Wednesday, a suicide bomber on foot blew himself up near a NATO base in Kabul's heavily-fortified diplomatic district, killing two Afghan security guards and wounding two government officials.