Kabul suicide attack kills 2

Kabul: Two Afghan security guards were killed Tuesday when a Taliban suicide truck bomber targeted a NATO-led coalition's base here, triggering firing that left two militants also dead.

The truck bombing in the eastern part of Kabul was the latest in a string of deadly attacks in the country.

"A suicide truck bomb hit a gate of a NATO military base in Dispachari locality around 6.35 a.m., killing two security guards," a security official told Xinhua.

Two militants hiding in the area tried to enter the base shortly after the attack but were shot dead by security forces.

The base was involved in training Afghan soldiers and police.

A NATO-led soldier was wounded in the attack that destroyed parts of the compound.

The Taliban has claimed responsibility for the incident.

Zabiullah Mujahid, claiming to be a Taliban spokesman, told the local media that over a dozen Afghan and foreign security personnel were killed in the attack.

The Taliban have intensified attacks over the past couple of months as the NATO and US forces are withdrawing from the country.

On Sunday, a suicide car bomb targeted the armoured vehicle of a female lawmaker near the parliament building in Kabul killing three civilians and injuring 32 others.

In a separate incident, two policemen were injured and several militants killed in a clash in Chardara in the northern province of Kunduz Tuesday, police spokesman Sayyed Sarwar Housanni told Xinhua.

"The clash occurred after a group of Taliban stormed security checkpoints in the area but the security forces repelled the attack, killing several militants," he said.