June 9, 2003	Monday	Rabi-us-Sani 8, 1424

KABUL, June 8: Peacekeepers were warned of an attack before the deadly suicide bombing which killed four German soldiers, a spokesman for the International Security Assistance Force said on Sunday.

“Although you have warnings, and in this particular case we had beforehand, that something might happen at a certain time, at a certain place, it is always impossible to predict,” Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Loebbering told a press conference.

Four German ISAF troops were killed and 31 injured Saturday when at least one suicide bomber in a taxi detonated a massive explosion alongside their bus, he said. The soldiers had been about to fly home after their six-month tour of duty.

The attack was the worst ever against the peacekeepers since they deployed in Kabul in December 2001 under a United Nations mandate to help make the capital secure.

Loebbering said there were regular warnings and threats concerning the main Jalalabad road, where the attack occurred just five kilometres from central Kabul.

According to initial estimates between 100 and 500 kilograms of explosives were used in the blast, he said.—AFP