Official: Suicide bomber kills 7 in Kabul Two US soldiers killed and 12 injured .

The scene outside the German embassy in Kabul

A suicide car bombing near an American military base in the Afghan capital Kabul has killed at least three people including two US troops, officials say.

A child was among the dead and 14 people were wounded in the blast on a small road between US base Camp Eggers and the German embassy.

The BBC's Martin Patience in Kabul says an eyewitness saw a suicide car bomber launch the attack.

A fuel tanker and several cars were burning as the injured were taken away.

The Taleban have reportedly claimed responsibility for Saturday morning's blast.

The AP news agency said a spokesman for the militant group, Zabiullah Mujahid, claimed a suicide bomber had carried out the attack in a Toyota Corolla.

Earlier reports said four US soldiers received non-life threatening injuries from shattered glass and debris, and that parts of the embassy had caught fire.

There is heavy security in the central district, Wazir Akbar Khan, which houses many embassies and offices of international organisations, but the district has been attacked before.

In November, four Afghans died in another blast nearby, outside the American embassy.

The militants' influence has spread from their traditional heartlands in the south and east to areas closer to the capital.

But our correspondent says that with increased police checkpoints throughout the city, there were fewer attacks inside Kabul in 2008 than in the previous year.

US President-elect Barack Obama has pledged to make Afghanistan a foreign policy priority after he comes to office on Tuesday and is expected to approve the doubling of US troops in the country from the 30,000 at present.
source:bbc