KABUL: At least six Italian soldiers have been killed in a bomb attack on a military convoy in the Afghan capital, Kabul, Italian defence officials say.

Two military vehicles were reported to have been hit by a suicide car bomb. At least three civilians were also killed and dozens injured, officials said.

The bomb went off near Kabul’s diplomatic quarter in the city centre. The blast comes as Afghan President Hamid Karzai reaffirmed his belief in last month’s election process.

August’s presidential election has been overshadowed by widespread allegations of fraud. Witnesses say an explosives-laden vehicle rammed into the Italian military convoy on Kabul’s busy airport road. “It was a suicide car bomb attack... It was against Italian forces,” Kabul’s chief of criminal investigations told the AFP news agency.

At least four Italian soldiers are also said to have been seriously wounded.

Some reports say that up to 10 Afghan civilians were also killed in the explosion.

Eyewitnesses said the explosion shook buildings and that a plume of black smoke hung over the area where it occurred. Student Jamal Nasir was in his car when the bomber struck and described an almost deafening blast. “I could see thick black smoke behind us... There were screams and car horns. People were running over each other and in the panic cars were driving on pedestrian lanes,” he said.

The blast caused considerable destruction in the immediate vicinity, with a number of shops badly damaged.

Photographs and television footage of the blast site showed the Italian flag on Isaf armoured vehicles, one of which was destroyed.

There have been several bomb attacks in Kabul this year.

Foreign troops under fire

• September ‘09: Six Italians killed, four wounded after attack on Kabul convoy

• August ‘08: 10 French

soldiers killed in ambush in east of Kabul

• July ‘08: Nine US soldiers killed in an attack in Kunar

• June ‘08: Four British

soldiers killed by a landmine blast in Helmand

• July ‘07: Six Canadian

soldiers and their Afghan translator killed by roadside bomb in Kandahar

• June ‘05: 16 US special forces and crew killed

when helicopter was shot down in Kunar