8 killed in car bombings of NATO vehicles in Kabul

KABUL, Afghanistan — Police today blamed al-Qaida for twin suicide bombings against NATO peacekeepers in the Afghan capital. The death toll rose to eight after more bodies were found, and security forces searched houses for more suspected attackers.

Suicide bombers rammed cars filled with explosives into NATO peacekeepers in two attacks in the Afghan capital Monday, killing a German soldier and an Afghan child and wounding at least a dozen other people. Police scouring the scene of the second suicide car bombing found six more burned bodies lying in a ditch.

Troops thwarted a suspected third bombing by shooting dead three people in a car racing toward the scene of the blasts. Such seemingly coordinated attacks are unprecedented in Afghanistan and reinforced fears that Taliban insurgents are copying tactics used in Iraq.

Police commander Gen. Mohammed Akbar said "only al-Qaida has the capability" to pull off such a coordinated attack. "Al-Qaida is definitely behind this attack," he told The Associated Press.

But a purported Taliban spokesman, Mullah Hanif, claimed responsibility for Monday's attacks and warned of more suicide bombings.

It was the first major assault on foreign troops in Kabul in more than a year.

The bombings occurred within 90 minutes of each other on a 500-yard stretch of road near the headquarters of Afghan-U.N. election organizers. In each case, the attackers rammed their cars into NATO vehicles.

After the first attack, the body of the German soldier lay on the ground under a crumpled armored Mercedes military vehicle. Troops carried a wounded German soldier to an ambulance on a stretcher. Pieces of a Toyota Corolla sedan that the attacker used were strewn across the road.

The blasts underscore the challenges facing the U.S.-backed president, Hamid Karzai, as he struggles to shore up his nation's fledgling democracy. The attacks came two days after officials released results from legislative elections in September, showing a win for Karzai's supporters.

While 86 U.S. troops have been killed this year, 24 soldiers from other countries have died.