Taliban bombings kill 4, injure dozens

KABUL - The Taliban took aim at Afghanistan's intelligence services yesterday, killing four people and wounding more than 30 in two separate attacks, including a suicide bombing on a bus in the capital, officials said.

The attacks follow a surprise visit to Kabul a day earlier by Vice President Joe Biden, who praised advances made against the insurgency while noting that gains made were "fragile and reversible."

In Kabul, a suicide bomber on a motorbike blew himself up next to a minibus carrying intelligence service employees to work, killing two and wounding 29, police and health authorities said.

About an hour later in the troubled eastern province of Kunar, a remote-controlled roadside bomb killed an intelligence service colonel and his driver, and wounded two bodyguards, said Abdul Saboor Allahyar, deputy chief of Kunar's provincial police.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for both attacks.

The powerful blast in Kabul struck on a busy road during the morning rush-hour, shattering the windows of dozens of houses. The suicide bomber's body lay in the street near the wreckage of his motorbike as police and intelligence officials cordoned off the area.

Public Health Ministry spokesman Gulam Sakhi Kargar said a total of 29 people were wounded. NATO, condemning the attack, said it had killed two Afghans and wounded at least 32.

- AP