Thirteen people have been killed in a suicide bomb blast in the Afghan capital Kabul.
The bomber drove his car into a bus filled with Afghan soldiers, in what was the second such attack in as many days.
Six soldiers and seven civilians were killed during the morning rush hour attack in the city's southern outskirts.
Another 17 people, including seven army officers, were wounded, the defence ministry said in a statement.
It was not immediately clear if the civilians were travelling in the bus or caught on the road by the blast, which also caused gas containers in a nearby shop to explode.
Four of the civilian dead were children, a health ministry official said.
A Taliban spokesman said a member of the resurgent Islamist group carried out the attack.
It was not immediately clear if US Secretary of State Robert Gates was in town at the time of the blast. The Pentagon chief flew into the northern Iraqi city of Mosul from Kabul earlier today.
