Rocket Attacks Hit Afghan Capital
By VOA News
04 August 2009
A string of rockets was fired at the Afghan capital early Tuesday in the largest single militant attack in the run up to presidential elections later this month.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for firing nine rockets in Kabul, one of which landed in the diplomatic area, several hundred meters from the U.S. and British embassies. Other rockets hit near the international airport.
The explosions were followed by rounds of gunfire in the city center.
There were no deaths but a man and child were reported wounded.
Also Tuesday in southern Zabul province, police say a security agent and four civilians died after a suicide bomber blew himself up near an intelligence agency vehicle in a busy bazaar.
And just outside the capital, the governor of neighboring Wardak province, Mohammad Halim Fedaye, survived unharmed after his convoy was hit by roadside bombs.
Taliban militants stepped up attacks across Afghanistan ahead of the country's August 20 presidential and local elections.
The Taliban has vowed to disrupt the vote, urging Afghans to boycott the polls and ordering its fighters to block roads to prevent people from voting.
On Monday, the Taliban claimed responsibility for a roadside bomb explosion near a police convoy that killed 12 people in the western city of Herat.
The new NATO chief, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, said Monday in Brussels the alliance needs more international help in Afghanistan to prevent the country from "becoming again the center of international terrorism."
Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.
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