Taliban suicide bombers launched a second day of attacks in Afghanistan today, killing at least four people in the capital and a northern city, raising tensions in areas that had been considered relatively secure.
A suicide car-bomber attacked a military-civilian convoy in Kabul this morning, killing at least three civilians and wounding five others, government and police official said.
Hours later, two bombers riding a motorcycle attacked a Swiss military reconstruction team in Mazar-i-Sharif, killing at least one Afghan civilian and wounding 15, a local security official said. The death toll could climb.
A spokesman for the Taliban, waging an insurgency against the Afghan government and its foreign allies, said the group was behind the attacks, which included two suicide blasts yesterday in south and central Afghanistan.
"Our many Taliban suiciders are present in the all cities in Afghanistan," Taliban spokesman Zabi-u-llah Mujahid said.
"We will increase our suicide and guerrilla attacks...in coming days," he added. The Taliban and their al-Qaeda allies have adopted the tactics of Iraq's insurgency over the past two years, using suicide bombings, mostly aimed at foreign troops, to try to dispel the notion that foreign and Afghan forces are in control.