Turkey vows continued support to Afghanistan

Turkey said it will continue to support Afghanistan despite a suicide attack that killed one Turkish soldier in central Kabul Thursday, media reported.

A suicide bomber blew himself up against a Turkish diplomatic vehicle belonging to the NATO-led Resolute Support (RS) force in Kabul, and killed a Turkish service member with the NATO mission and an Afghan passerby. Another Turkish soldier was wounded in the blast.

At a meeting of governors, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said the attack would not diminish Ankara's resolve to make contributions to restore stability and serenity in Afghanistan, Xinhua new agency reported the state-run Anadolu news service as saying.

Responding to a Taliban spokesperson's statement that the target was not Turks, the Turkish leader said his country condemned the perpetrators for the "vicious attack", and expected them to be penalised regardless of the motives.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said an investigation was under way to find out whether the target was the Turkish soldiers or not.

"The NATO senior civilian representative was not involved and is unharmed," NATO's RS mission confirmed in a brief statement.

The Turkish parliament authorised the government in January to continue posting Turkish troops in war-torn Afghanistan for two more years under a new NATO mission.

Turkey also undertook the management of Kabul International Airport in the country's capital for a two-year term, which is used for both military and civilian purposes.

Some 900 Turkish personnel would be serving in the training, advice and assistance mission in Afghanistan, Turkish Defence Minister Ismet Yilmaz said in January.