The Taliban took responsibility Monday for a bomb blast in Afghanistan that killed six American troops, while other militants launched suicide attacks on two police headquarters that according to officials left seven attackers and two children dead.

German Brig. Gen. Gunter Katz, a spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition, said the six Americans were killed on Sunday when their armored vehicle struck a bomb planted in eastern Afghanistan. He said a seventh American soldier was killed in a separate insurgent attack in the south.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the attack in Wardak province, just south of Kabul, in a statement. They were the latest American casualties from bombs planted by insurgents along roads, paths or mountain tracks.




A short time later, three more suicide bombers tried to attack the police headquarters in Kandahar, but were gunned down by police before they could get into the compound, Faisal said. The incident was still being investigated, but Faisal said authorities suspect that the three attackers in the vehicle, a form of miniature pickup known as a zaranj, were headed toward police headquarters when their explosives detonated prematurely.

Two policemen and four civilians were wounded in the 90-minute gun battle around the police headquarters.


Militants also attacked a police headquarters building in Shibirghan, the capital of Jawzjan province in the north.

Provincial governor Mohammad Aleem Saaie said a suicide attacker on a bicycle blew himself up near the headquarters. He said 26 people were wounded, including two policemen, a doctor and a prosecutor.

"This was another attack against innocent civilians," said Gen. Abdul Aziz Ghairat, the provincial police chief. "The majority of the wounded people are civilians."

In other violence, authorities said gunmen assassinated a chief prosecutor in Ghazni province in eastern Afghanistan Monday morning as he drove to work. Mohammad Ali Ahmadi, the deputy provincial governor, said Sahar Gul was shot twice -- once in the head and once in the chest.







