A suicide attack in an affluent section of Afghanistan's capital Kabul killed seven and wounded 44. The assault on the Wazir Akbar Khan district highlights the continuing security challenges facing the beleaguered Afghan people.

The suicide bomber packed a sports utility vehicle with explosives and detonated them outside the Heetal Hotel. The blast ripped through the neighbourhood, shattering windows and razing a number of villas in Kabul's heavily fortified diplomatic district, Wazir Akbar Khan. 

Pattern of violence
The former vice president of Afghanistan, Ahmad Zia Massoud, has a guest house near the scene of the attack and there's speculation he may have been the target. Radio Netherlands Worldwide's correspondent in Kabul, Bette Dam, says today's violence may be part of a pattern.

"Two weeks ago there was another attack, outside of Kabul, on a very important leader of the Northern Alliance, and it appears that again there is a personal attack on an important leader here in Afghanistan."

Two of Mr Massoud's bodyguards were killed in the explosion, but eyewitnesses say the former vice president appeared uninjured as he was being escorted from the scene.

Complicated moment
Today's suicide attack comes at a crucial moment for President Hamid Karzai's government. Mr Karzai is just beginning his second term in office after a controversial election that was riddled with irregularities. The United States recently unveiled plans to send an extra 30,000 troops to the country, and Kabul has also come under fire for not doing enough to rein in corruption, which is rife in Afghanistan. In fact, the attack took place moments before President Karzai opened a three-day anti-corruption conference.

The government in Kabul is blaming the Taliban for today's attack, but Bette Dam says the situation is not so clear-cut.  

"It's questionable if it is the Taliban. It's more chaos than a straight black and white picture of: 'these are the international forces, this is the government of Karzai and then we have the Taliban'. It's not that simple anymore."