(MENAFN- The Peninsula) A Taliban suicide attacker killed four civilians and injured two near Kabul airport yesterday as Ashraf Ghani was inaugurated as Afghan president at a ceremony in the city centre.

"We can confirm a suicide bomber on foot detonated near the airport, killing four people and wounding two," said a spokesman for the police investigation department.

The Taliban claimed responsibility via a recognised Twitter account, saying foreign and Afghan soldiers had been targeted.

The War in Afghanistan (2001€present) refers to the intervention by North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) and allied forces in the ongoing Afghan civil war.

The war followed the September 11 attacks, and its public aims were to dismantle Al Qaeda and denying it a safe basis of operation in Afghanistan by removing the Taliban from power.