Teenage suicide bomber kills 6 in Afghan capital

  AMIR SHAHKABUL, Afghanistan -- A teenage suicide bomber blew himself up outside NATO headquarters in the Afghan capital on Saturday, killing six civilians in a strike that targeted the heart of the U.S.-led military operation in the country, officials said.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the blast, which was the latest in a series of attacks carried out by insurgents in the heavily-fortified Afghan capital. The U.S.-led coalition launched a campaign this spring aimed at shoring up security in Kabul before a significant withdrawal of combat troops limits American options. The strategy is part of an overall plan to gradually hand over security to Afghan security forces.

While bombings and shootings elsewhere in Afghanistan receive relatively little attention, attacks in the capital score propaganda points for the insurgents by throwing doubt on the government's ability to provide security even the seat of its power. The attacks also aim to undermine coalition claims of progress ahead of the planned withdrawal of foreign troops by the end of 2014.

The bomber struck before noon outside the headquarters of the U.S.-led NATO coalition, on a street that connects the alliance headquarters to the nearby U.S. Embassy, the Italian Embassy, a large U.S. military base, and the Afghan Defense Ministry.

The alliance and police said all the victims were Afghans, and the Ministry of Interior said some were street children. Kabul police said in a statement that the bomber was 14 years old.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, saying the target was a U.S. intelligence facility nearby.

Jamie Graybeal, a spokesman for the U.S.-led international military alliance, said all coalition compounds in Kabul were currently secure. He said he was not aware of any casualties among members of the coalition.

Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqi blamed the attack on the Haqqani network, one of the most dangerous militant groups fighting U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan. He did not say what he was basing that conclusion on, but the Haqqani group, which is linked to both the Taliban and al-Qaida, has been responsible for several high-profile attacks in the Afghan capital in the past.

On Friday, the U.S. designated the Pakistan-based Haqqani network a terrorist organization, a move that bans Americans from doing business with members of the group and blocks any assets it holds in the United States.

The Obama administration went forward with the decision despite misgivings about how the largely symbolic act could further stall planned Afghan peace talks or put yet another chill on the United States' already fragile counterterrorism alliance with Pakistan.

The Haqqani network has been blamed for a series of high profile attacks against foreign targets in Kabul, including coordinated attacks last April against NATO and government facilities that lasted more than a day before the insurgents were killed. A year ago, they were blamed for a rocket-propelled grenade assault on the U.S. Embassy and NATO headquarters. In June, gunmen stormed a lakeside hotel near Kabul and 18 people in a 12-hour rampage.

American officials estimate the Haqqani forces at 2,000 to 4,000 fighters and say the group maintains close ties with al-Qaida.

Earlier Saturday, hundreds of Afghans and officials had gathered just a few hundred meters (yards) from the site of the attack to lay wreaths at a statue to commemorate the 11th anniversary of the death of Ahmad Shah Massoud, the charismatic Northern Alliance commander who was killed in an al-Qaida suicide bombing two days before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The alliance joined with the United States to help rout the Taliban after America invaded Afghanistan a month later in the wake of the attacks.

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Al-Qaida bomber was CIA informant

  ADAM GOLDMANWASHINGTON -- The CIA had al-Qaida fooled from the beginning.

Last month, U.S. intelligence learned that al-Qaida's Yemen branch hoped to launch a spectacular attack using a new, nearly undetectable bomb aboard an airliner bound for America, officials say.

But the man the terrorists were counting on to carry out the attack was actually working for the CIA and Saudi intelligence, U.S. and Yemeni officials told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

The dramatic sting operation thwarted the attack before it had a chance to succeed.

It was the latest misfire for al-Qaida, which has repeatedly come close to detonating a bomb aboard an airliner. For the United State, it was a victory that delivered the bomb intact to U.S. intelligence.

The officials spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the operation. The cooperation of the would-be bomber was first reported Tuesday evening by The Los Angeles Times.

The FBI is still analyzing the explosive, which was intended to be concealed in a passenger's underwear. Officials said it was an upgrade over the bomb that failed to detonate on board an airplane over Detroit on Christmas 2009. This new bomb contained no metal and used a chemical - lead azide - that was to be a detonator in a nearly successful 2010 plot to attack cargo planes, officials said.

Security procedures at U.S. airports remained unchanged Tuesday, a reflection of both the U.S. confidence in its security systems and a recognition that the government can't realistically expect travelers to endure much more. Increased costs and delays to airlines and shipping companies could have a global economic impact, too.

"I would not expect any real changes for the traveling public," said House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Mich. "There is a concern that overseas security doesn't match ours. That's an ongoing challenge."

While airline checks in the United States mean passing through an onerous, sometimes embarrassing series of pat-downs and body scans, procedures overseas can be a mixed bag. The U.S. cannot force other countries to permanently adopt the expensive and intrusive measures that have become common in American airports over the past decade.

The Transportation Security Administration sent advice to some international air carriers and airports about security measures that might stave off an attack from a hidden explosive. It's the same advice the U.S. has issued before, but there was a thought that it might get new attention in light of the foiled plot.

The U.S. has worked for years to try to improve security for U.S.-bound flights originating at international airports. And many countries agree that security needs to be better. But while plots such as the Christmas attack have spurred changes, some security gaps that have been closed in the U.S. remain open overseas.

Officials believe that body scanners, for instance, probably would have detected this latest attempt by al-Qaida to bring down a jetliner. Such scanners allow screeners to see objects hidden beneath a passenger's clothes.

But while scanners are in place in airports nationwide, their use is scattershot overseas. Even in security-conscious Europe, the European Union has not required full-body imaging machines for all airports, though a number of major airports in Paris, London, Frankfurt and elsewhere use them.

All passengers on U.S.-bound flights are checked against terrorist watch lists and law enforcement databases.

In some countries, U.S. officials are stationed in airports to offer advice on security matters. In some cases, though, the U.S. is limited to hoping that other countries follow the security advice from the Transportation Security Administration.

"Even if our technology is good enough to spot it, the technology is still in human hands and we are inherently fallible," said Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., a member of the House Intelligence Committee. "And overseas, we have varying degrees of security depending on where the flight originates."

Al-Qaida has repeatedly tried to take advantage of those overseas gaps. The Christmas 2009 bombing originated in Amsterdam, where the bomber did not receive a full-body scan. And in 2010, terrorists smuggled bombs onto cargo jets, which receive less scrutiny than passenger planes.

In both those instances, the bombs were made by al-Qaida's master bomb maker in Yemen, Ibrahim Hassan al-Asiri. Officials believe this latest bomb was the handiwork of al-Asiri or one of his students.

In the meantime, Americans traveled Tuesday with little apparent concern.

"We were nervous - for a minute," said Nan Gartner, a retiree on her way to Italy from New York's John F. Kennedy Airport. "But then we thought, we aren't going anywhere near Yemen, so we're OK." ---
Associated Press writers Kimberly Dozier, Ted Bridis, Bob Burns, Bradley Klapper and Alan Fram in Washington, Ahmed Al-Haj in Sanaa, Yemen, Verena Dobnik in New York, Paisley Dodds in London, Matthew Lee in New Delhi and Slobodan Lekic in Brussels contributed to this report.

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Suicide bomber strikes Afghan funeral, killing 19

  By SLOBODAN LEKICKABUL, Afghanistan -- A suicide bomber blew himself up Sunday just after a funeral in northern Afghanistan, killing 19 people, including a member of the national parliament, the Interior Ministry said.

The attack came as mourners were leaving at the end of the funeral of a village elder in the town of Talaqan in northern Takhar province, a statement said, killing 19 and wounding 40.

Among the dead was parliament member Abdul Mutaleb Baik.

Suicide attacks are rare in Takhar province, which is located 155 miles (250 kilometers) northeast of Kabul and is considered one the nation's calmer regions.

Sayed Ikramuddin Masomi, another lawmaker from Takhar province, confirmed that the lawmaker was killed.

"The suicide attacker killed...innocent people, and unfortunately Abdul Mutaleb Baik was among them," he said in a telephone interview.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility. Over the past year, the Taliban have repeatedly struck at officials and other prominent figures in an apparent effort to paralyze the government.

In September, a suicide attacker killed Burhanuddin Rabbani, a former Afghan president and head of the nation's peace council.

President Hamid Karzai immediately condemned the attack in Takhar province, describing it as "an inhuman action by the enemies of Afghanistan."

U.S. Marine Gen. John Allen, the coalition's top commander in Afghanistan, said "these attackers are cowards, callously targeting and killing families and friends who had gathered to mourn a loved one."

Also Sunday, the Interior Ministry said security forces killed 30 suspected insurgents in a series of clashes around the country.

A ministry statement said army, police and NATO troops launched 11 operations in the past 24 hours across the country. It said seven insurgents were arrested.

Sunday's statement said the killed insurgents were armed and that weapons were recovered in the operations.

Separately, NATO said one of its service members was killed Sunday in an insurgent attack in eastern Afghanistan. The statement provided no further details.

The soldier was the 19th coalition fighter to die this month in Afghanistan.

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Suicide bomber strikes at top NATO, Afghan leaders

  By JON GAMBRELL and RAHIM FAIEZKABUL, Afghanistan -- A Taliban suicide bomber wearing a police uniform blew himself up inside a heavily guarded compound Saturday as top Afghan and international officials left a meeting, killing two senior Afghan police commanders and wounding the German general who commands coalition troops in northern Afghanistan.

Two German soldiers and two other Afghans were also killed in the blast, the latest in an insurgent spring offensive. It came just weeks before a planned drawdown of U.S. troops begins this summer.

The bomber detonated his explosives-laden vest inside the governor's complex in Takhar province, where high-ranking Afghan officials were meeting with members of the international coalition, said Faiz Mohammad Tawhedi, a spokesman for the governor.

"What we know is the guy who carried out the attack had a police uniform on," Tawhedi said. "How he entered the meeting room and why he was not searched, we don't know."

Among the dead was Gen. Daud Daud, regional police commander in northern Afghanistan, according to the provincial health director, Dr. Hassain Basech.

Daud was a former deputy interior minister for counternarcotics and a former bodyguard of Ahmad Shah Massoud, the charismatic Tajik leader who commanded the Northern Alliance and died in an al-Qaida suicide bombing two days before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that provoked the U.S. invasion.

He was named chief of the northern zone police, which covers the nine northern provinces from its headquarters in Mazar-i-Sharif, about a year ago, at a time when security in northern Afghanistan was steadily deteriorating.

Also killed were provincial police chief Gen. Shah Jahan Noori, a secretary to the governor and one of Daud's bodyguards, the health director said.

Gen. Markus Kneip, the NATO force's commander for northern Afghanistan, was among the wounded, German Defense Minister Thomas de Maiziere said in Berlin.

Earlier this year, Kneip took over NATO's northern regional command, which covers nine provinces on Afghanistan's border with Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. He also serves as the senior national commander of the 4,900 German troops deployed in the north, a region that had been relatively calm but has seen a rise in violence over the past two years.

Two German troops were killed and two others were wounded in the blast, de Maiziere said. Fifty-one German troops have been killed in Afghanistan since the start of the war.

"The attackers and their superiors are criminal murderers," de Maiziere said. "They should not and will not have the last word.

We will not leave the path of partnership. However, it is a steep and bitter price."

German Chancellor Angela Merkel also condemned the attack, saying in a statement that she was "shocked and sad about the dead and wounded German soldiers as well the many Afghan victims." The chancellor demanded a thorough investigation to find and punish the perpetrators.

Abdul Jabar Taqwa, the Takhar province governor who was at the meeting, suffered burns to his head, hands and back. Nine other Afghans were wounded, including a cameraman working in the governor's office and eight Afghan troops.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the bombing - the latest in an uptick of violence since the Islamic extremist movement launched its spring offensive on May 1. The effectiveness of the Taliban's campaign could affect the size of President Barack Obama's planned drawdown of U.S. troops, beginning in July.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said it was part of the insurgency's assassination campaign against high-ranking government officials and was meant to undercut a military offensive he said the Afghan National Army was planning to launch in the north.

Violence has been on the rise in the north, where the Taliban, al-Qaida and fighters from other militant factions are known to be hiding, including the Haqqani network, Hezb-i-Islami and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan. In October 2010, a bomb killed Kunduz Gov. Mohammad Omar and 19 others in a crowded mosque in Takhar province. Omar was killed just days after he warned of escalating threats from Taliban and foreign fighters in the north.

President Hamid Karzai condemned the attack, calling it a "barbaric act of terror."

The suicide attacker struck at 4:45 p.m. as top officials walked out of their meeting, a senior Afghan police officer told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not permitted to talk to journalists. There was a flash of fire and people started running in all directions, he said. After that, the room went dark and white smoke billowed from the compound.

AP Television News video showed the aftermath of the powerful blast: Windows and doors were blown out and black scorch marks marred much of the building. Blood was spattered on paving stones in the parking lot and the sound of soldiers stepping through shattered glass could be heard.

Nine other Afghans were wounded - a cameraman working in the governor's office and eight Afghan troops.

The Afghan police officer said Afghan and international officials had been discussing security issues and ways to prevent another massive protest in the northern province, where security has deteriorated as NATO and Afghan forces focus on insurgent strongholds in the south.

Last week, 12 people died in a protest in Taloqan after four people were killed in a night raid conducted by NATO and Afghan forces.

NATO said those killed were four insurgents - including two women - who tried to fire weapons at the joint force. Protesters, however, carried the bodies of the dead through the provincial capital, claiming they had been gunned down in their home for no reason. An estimated 1,500 people later clashed with police and tried to storm a German military base, shouting: "Death to Karzai!

Death to America!"

The riot foreshadowed more trouble ahead for NATO as upcoming troop drawdowns are likely to make the alliance increasingly reliant on quick-strike raids on insurgent hideouts. The raids often produce prominent results - most recently, the May 2 killing of Osama bin Laden in neighboring Pakistan - but deeply offend Afghans when they go wrong.

The Afghan public, which has grown increasingly hostile to foreigners as the nearly decade-long war continues, tends to perceive the NATO raids as capturing the wrong people or mistreating civilians during searches of private homes and compounds.

Fighting back against these operations, Karzai on Saturday ordered that only Afghan troops - not NATO forces - should carry out special operations and night raids. The president's move was aimed at quelling popular anger over the international troops' nighttime assaults that he says kill innocent Afghan civilians. The announcement also said the international coalition should not conduct any raids that have not been coordinated beforehand with Afghan authorities.

It wasn't immediately clear what impact, if any, Karzai's orders would have on NATO's actions.

The coalition promptly defended the raids as a necessity to flush out insurgents from their hideouts.

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Associated Press writers Deb Riechmann in Kabul and Kirsten Grieshaber in Berlin contributed to this report.

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