Kabul suicide attacks coincide with Barack Obama visit
Explosions kill seven just hours after US president Barack Obama visited Afghan capital
Suicide attackers launched a dawn attack on the outskirts of Kabul, killing seven, just hours after US President Barack Obama visited the Afghan capital and claimed that the last three years of fighting had broken the Taliban's momentum.
Witnesses said at least four attackers were involved, shrouded in all-enveloping burqas usually worn by Afghan women but often adopted by insurgents to hide weapons and reduce scrutiny as they approach a target.
They headed to the Green Village compound, which houses hundreds of foreign workers including UN staff, EU police trainers and many private security contractors.
An initial car bomb blasted away the gate and part of the nearby wall, killing at least one student from the nearby Kabul boys high school and a Nepali compound security guard, the capital's police chief General Ayoub Salangi said.
Four civilians in a passing Toyota corolla were also killed almost immediately, an intelligence official, who asked not to be named, told the Guardian. The blast was loud enough that it was heard on the other side of the city, and left a large crater in the road.
"I was walking to school when I saw a very big explosion. A car exploded and flames went very high into the air," student Mohammad Wali told the Associated Press.
"Then I saw a body of one of my classmates lying on the street. I knew it was a suicide attack and ran away. I was so afraid." Several other students and teachers were among the injured, said the Interior Ministry, which put the total toll at seven, excluding the insurgents.
After the blast the group of attackers rushed into an outer area containing a car park and several buildings, Afghan and western security officials said. They fought elite Afghan security forces and compound guards for several hours before the last man was killed, but they did not penetrate the compound's inner security cordon.
The Taliban claimed the attack was a response to Obama's presence in Afghanistan.
"When we heard about Obama's visit we quickly planned the attack," spokesman Zabihullah Mujaheed told the Guardian.
"This is a message for Obama and other foreigners who are trying to fight against the Mujahideen that they will not be able to resist."
But the shroud of secrecy surrounding the trip means it is unlikely that the attack could have been planned and launched as a direct response.
The Taliban might have had a team of attackers waiting for a signal to launch an assault on a pre-selected target, or the attack may already have been planned to mark the one-year anniversary of the killing of Osama bin Laden.
That daring assault has been one of the undisputed highlights of Obama's presidency. The visit to Kabul served to underline it, although Obama ostensibly came to sign an agreement reached earlier this month with Afghanistan president Hamid Karzai on relations between the two countries following the withdrawal of most US and other international forces.
Addressing a viewing public in the US, and opening himself up to Republican criticisms of electioneering, Obama said that America's war aims of destroying al-Qaida in Afghanistan were nearly achieved. "The goal that I set to defeat al-Qaida and deny it a base to rebuild is now within reach," he said.
In the brief speech Obama focused on the handover of responsibility for military operations from American and other troops to domestic Afghan forces.
That message aims to reassure both those Americans who are keen to see a quick end to an increasingly unpopular war, and those in Afghanistan and elsewhere who fear too hasty a departure could pave the way for civil war or the Taliban's return to power by force.
He sa! id the s hift would ensure US military involvement in the country would end by 2014 apart from small training and counter-terrorism issues. "We will not build permanent bases in this country, nor will we be patrolling in cities and mountains. That will be the job of the Afghan people," he said.
Obama made only a short reference to the killing of Bin Laden but his speech focussed more on al-Qaida than the Taliban. He also made it clear that the country would continue to engage in peace talks with the insurgents.
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