First reported female suicide car bomber kills 12 in Afghanistan

At least 12 people were killed in an attack in Kabul, Afghanistan, after a suicide bomber drove a car packed with explosives into a mini-bus.

The mini-bus was carrying foreign aviation workers to the airport and the attack was said to be revenge by a militant group for an anti-Islam film said to ridicule the Prophet Muhammad.

The interior ministry said that nine foreigners and three Afghans lost their lives but details of the nationalities of the foreign victims were not disclosed.

Some 10 Afghan bystanders were also wounded in the attack, the responsibility of which was claimed by the Islamist militant group Hisb-i-Islami in an email sent to The Associated Press.

Spokesperson for the Hisb-i-Islami Harron Zarghoon said that the suicide bomber was a 22-year-old woman named Fatima making this the first reported attack ever to have been carried out by a woman in Afghanistan.

The explosion occurred near an avenue northwest of the city centre near Kabul International Airport and the blast hurled the mini-bus at least 50 yards from in front of a gas station.