KABUL, 30 September 2007 — A suicide bomber wearing an army uniform blew up an Afghan military bus in Kabul yesterday, killing around 30 people and wounding many more in one of the deadliest attacks of the Taleban’s insurgency.

Afghanistan’s US-backed president, Hamid Karzai, called for “stronger vigor” in the worldwide fight against terrorism after the devastating blast.

The attacker detonated his explosives at the entrance of the bus as it picked up army personnel going to work at the Defense Ministry in the center of the heavily guarded city, ministry spokesman Gen. Zahir Azimi said.

The force of the explosion blew off the roof and sides of the large bus, which was torn into mangled metal.

Television pictures showed rescuers rushing bloodied bodies from the vehicle. Some of the dead were still in their seats. Debris was scattered across a wide area. Around 30 people were wounded.

The extremist Taleban movement claimed responsibility for the morning rush-hour attack, which was the deadliest in the city since a similar explosion on a police bus in June killed about 35 people.

In the immediate aftermath, officials had different casualty tolls: Karzai said 28 military personnel and two civilians were killed.

Public Health Minister Sayed Mohammad Amin Fatemi said 31 were dead, nearly all military, and 17 critically wounded, while the Interior Ministry said 27 were dead and 29 wounded.

Taleban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahed said the attack was part of a Taleban “operation” planned for the holy month of Ramadan.

There have been more than 100 suicide blasts in Afghanistan this year, most blamed on the Taleban movement which was driven from government by a US-led coalition in late 2001 after seizing power five years earlier.

While most insurgency-linked attacks are in remote areas in the south and east of Afghanistan, there have been a series of strikes inside Kabul this year.

The last was a suicide bomb on Sept. 21 that struck a NATO armored vehicle, killing a French soldier and wounding several Afghans. The deadliest was on a police bus on June 17. Officials said at the time that 35 policemen were killed, making it the worst such attack since the Taleban launched their insurgency.

Karzai strongly condemned yesterday’s attack at a media briefing hours after the explosion.

It “is something that would indicate to us that the war against terrorism must go on with much stronger vigor,” the grim-faced president told reporters at his palace.

“From Algeria to Indonesia, from the United States to Japan, we all have to keep together and remain steadfast in the war against terrorism,” he said.