SgtJim
01-12-2011, 10:31 AM
9601
A damaged minibus is seen at the scene after it was attacked by a suicide attacker in Kabul, Afghanistan, 12 Jan 2011
Afghan officials say a suicide bomber on a motorbike killed four people in an attack close to the country's parliament Wednesday.
Afghanistan's Interior Minister Zemarai Bashary said the blast in the capital Kabul took place near a minibus carrying Afghan intelligence personnel.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, which wounded some 30 people.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai, coalition officials and the U.S. Embassy in Kabul separately condemned the attack.
Meanwhile, a roadside bomb in eastern Afghanistan killed a senior Afghan intelligence officer.
The attacks came as U.S. Vice President Joe Biden completed a two-day visit to the country.
Biden was on an unannounced fact-finding mission to assess progress in Afghanistan. He said he believed U.S. troops with local security forces are breaking the momentum of Taliban insurgents.
Biden also assured President Karzai that the United States will not abandon his country after 2014 when, under an agreement reached last year, coalition forces plan to hand over control of security to the Afghans.
NATO officials have said they expect levels of violence to remain high through Afghanistan's winter months when fighting traditionally eases as a sign that the coalition and Afghan forces are putting pressure on Taliban strongholds.
A damaged minibus is seen at the scene after it was attacked by a suicide attacker in Kabul, Afghanistan, 12 Jan 2011
Afghan officials say a suicide bomber on a motorbike killed four people in an attack close to the country's parliament Wednesday.
Afghanistan's Interior Minister Zemarai Bashary said the blast in the capital Kabul took place near a minibus carrying Afghan intelligence personnel.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, which wounded some 30 people.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai, coalition officials and the U.S. Embassy in Kabul separately condemned the attack.
Meanwhile, a roadside bomb in eastern Afghanistan killed a senior Afghan intelligence officer.
The attacks came as U.S. Vice President Joe Biden completed a two-day visit to the country.
Biden was on an unannounced fact-finding mission to assess progress in Afghanistan. He said he believed U.S. troops with local security forces are breaking the momentum of Taliban insurgents.
Biden also assured President Karzai that the United States will not abandon his country after 2014 when, under an agreement reached last year, coalition forces plan to hand over control of security to the Afghans.
NATO officials have said they expect levels of violence to remain high through Afghanistan's winter months when fighting traditionally eases as a sign that the coalition and Afghan forces are putting pressure on Taliban strongholds.