Suicide bombers killed at least four people when they attacked two government offices in the southeastern Afghan town of Khost on Thursday, a police officer said. One bomber targeted the department for counter-narcotics, the officer said. The second detonated explosives inside the main intelligence headquarters a few hundred meters away, Guldad said. “The bomber had managed to get inside the intelligence department by wearing the agency's uniform,” he said. Two intelligence officers and two police officers were killed and at least nine others wounded in the attack among officials in the intelligence department. Gunfire also erupted inside the building, an official source said. It was not clear whether foreign troops were hit in either of the attacks. Afghan and foreign troops had cordoned off the area and at least one helicopter belonging to foreign troops was hovering overhead, residents said. Taleban insurgents claimed responsibility for the strikes, saying that three members of the Islamists group were involved and their target was the head of intelligence in Khost and his deputy, a Taleban spokesman said via a website. A surge of violence in Afghanistan this year has marked the bloodiest period since the Taleban's removal in 2001. The violence has raised fears about Afghanistan's stability despite an increase in the number of foreign troops. Regrouping in 2005, the Al-Qaeda-backed Taleban have carried out a number of high-profile attacks this year, including several in the capital, Kabul. These included an assassination plot against President Hamid Karzai during a military parade near his palace. Officials say some members of the security forces helped the insurgents in that incident.
