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Tuesday, August 18, 2009 KABUL: A suicide car bomb in the Afghan capital Tuesday killed seven Afghan civilians and some NATO troops, and wounded more than 50 people in an attack two days before elections, officials said. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the blast and a volley of rockets fired into the heavily secured capital, one of which an official said struck the outskirts of the compound of President Hamid Karzai but caused no damage. The latest attacks come two days after a deadly suicide car bombing outside the main NATO base in Kabul and follow repeated Taliban threats of new assaults in a bid to sabotage presidential and provincial council elections on Thursday. The explosion was near a US military base on a key road leading east out of Kabul, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force said. "There have been some ISAF soldiers killed and several wounded," an ISAF press officer said. On the Afghan casualties, public health ministry spokesman Ahmad Fari...

Tuesday, August 18, 2009 KABUL: A Taliban rocket struck the grounds of Afghanistan's presidential palace on Tuesday, just two days before incumbent Hamid Karzai seeks re-election in tense polls that could go to a second round.Polls show Karzai likely to win Thursday's vote, but not with the outright majority required to avoid a second round. He is relying on the last-minute support of former guerrilla chieftains in a bid to tip the balance.His main rival Abdullah, an urbane eye doctor, has run an energetic campaign, seeking to garner support from beyond his base in the mainly ethnic-Tajik north.Several small rockets were fired overnight and a police source said one caused some damage inside the sprawling, fortified presidential palace compound in central Kabul, while a second hit the capital's police headquarters. Neither caused any casualties.Militants who have vowed to disrupt Thursday's election have fired rockets at the capital twice this month as well as detonated ...

KABUL: A suicide car bomb has exploded outside the Nato headquarters in Kabul, killing at least three people and wounding about 70, Afghan officials say.A plume of smoke was seen rising above the area, where the presidential palace and embassies are also located. According to an Arabic television, Tahreek-e-Taliban Afghanistan have claimed responsibility for a suicide car bomb in front of the heavily fortified headquarters of US and NATO troops in Kabul, saying the target was the US embassy nearby. "The target was the US embassy, but we could not reach it. The suicide car bomber exploded near the ISAF headquarters and killed several foreign troops," Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told foreign news agency by telephone from an undisclosed location, referring to the International Security Assistance Force.