A suicide bomber blew himself up next to a German military patrol outside the gates of the Afghan capital's airport Friday, killing two Afghan soldiers and wounding 10 other people, officials said, according to AP. In eastern Afghanistan, a barrage of rockets missed a U.S.-led coalition base but hit houses at a nearby village, leaving 10 civilians dead, the coalition and Afghan police said. Violence is soaring in Afghanistan, where over 4,200 people _ most of them insurgents _ have been killed this year alone, according to an Associated Press count based on figures provided by Western and Afghan officials. Most of the bloodshed has been in the south and the east where Taliban militants are strongest. But there has also been a series of suicide attacks against foreign and Afghan security forces in the capital, Kabul. The attack Friday, apparently aimed at a patrol of German forces, instead tore into a group of Afghan soldiers waiting at a checkpoint outside the military wing of Kabul International airport, witnesses said. The German Defense Ministry said the blast damaged two of their vehicles. One German soldier was wounded, the country's army command said. Belgian Defense Minister Andre Flahaut said four Belgian soldiers were also slightly wounded in the attack, with one suffering minor burns. Others suffered hearing damage. Some 300 Belgian soldiers, serving with NATO's International Security Assistance Force, are in charge of security at Kabul's airport. NATO said an Afghan soldier and four civilians were also wounded in the attack. «A car drove fast and blew up next to a crowd of people, including Afghan National Army soldiers,» said Mansur, a witness who only gave a single name. «A lot of people were left laying on the ground.» Ambulances ferried the wounded to a hospital, while NATO and Afghan troops secured the area. Debris from the car was widely scattered. An Afghan soldier said the bomber tried to ram a convoy of cars carrying foreigners. Instead, most of those hit were members of the Afghan National Army bound for training in Italy, he said. «All the shrapnel came toward us,» said the soldier, who declined to give his name since he was not authorized to speak to media. Another soldier walked away from the scene holding a pair of bloodied boots and two of the green berets worn by the ANA. The U.S.-led coalition said militants meanwhile fired rockets at its base in the Chawkay district of Kunar province on Friday. The ten rockets landed in the nearby village of Babul, killing 10 civilians and wounding seven others, said Abdul Sabor Allayar, a deputy provincial police chief. A number of houses were destroyed in the attack, he said.
