KHOST, Afghanistan: The death toll from a double suicide attack on an Afghan police headquarters rose to 13 on Sunday as a provincial politician was gunned down along with his driver outside Kabul. Initially four policemen were announced dead from the blasts in the eastern province of Paktika, which also wounded 14 people and has triggered a government investigation, interior ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary said. Bashary added that Deputy Interior Minister Abdul Rehmad Rehman had been sent to Paktika to find out how the attackers, dressed as policemen, managed to enter the building and detonate their explosives. The province is deeply embroiled in the Taliban's campaign to return to power as it lies across the border with Pakistan's tribal areas, believed to be the base for the Taliban-allied Haqqani network. NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), which has more than 140,000 troops fighting the insurgency, said they had captured a leader of the militant Haqqani group during a Thursday operation in neighboring Khost province. Meanwhile in Logar province, south of the capital, provincial politician Abdullah Ahmadzai was gunned down along with his driver and a guard, officials said. – Agence France
