TIRANA, Aug. 15 (Xinhua) -- Three Macedonian soldiers were slightly injured Saturday in a suicide car bomb attack in Afghanistan, Macedonia's Defense Ministry said.
The attack, near the front gate of NATO headquarters in Kabul at 8: 40 a.m. local time, has killed seven people and wounded nearly 100, the ministry revealed in a statement.
The Macedonian soldiers, guarding the gate, have sustained face scratches and received immediate treatment for their injuries, the ministry said, adding that they will be back on duty soon.
Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov called the injured soldiers and required about their general health conditions, the president's office said.
Macedonia has a total of 164 soldiers taking part in the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, and 148 of them help safeguard the NATO headquarters in Kabul.
Macedonia has been longing to join NATO, but its efforts were thwarted by Greece over a 18-year-long name dispute between the two countries in April last year at a NATO summit in Romania.
Athens has contended that the former Yugoslav state's determination to call itself Macedonia has concealed territorial ambitions over its own northern province of the same name.