Six Killed in Kabul Attack

An insurgent suicide bomber blew himself up outside an International Committee of the Red Cross compound in Jalalabad, Afghanistan before other militants stormed the building with guns.

KABUL, Afghanistan — Taliban militants attacked an army outpost near the eastern border with Pakistan on Friday, killing 13 soldiers, the Defence Ministry said. The attack occurred in a volatile province that serves as a major gateway for insurgents coming from Pakistan. Hostilities have surged as weather improves, allowing easier passage through the mountainous area.

A suicide bomber on a bicycle killed nine people outside the defence ministry in central Kabul on Saturday during a visit to the Afghan capital by new US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel.

Several insurgents were killed as they attacked a NATO camp in Kabul with assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades, slightly wounding three troops, NATO and police said.The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and Afghan police gave differing figures for the number of dead assailants, while the Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack."At 06:30 am on Saturday, we received information that Camp Phoenix was under attack by small arms and RPGs," said an ISAF spokesman.

An explosion followed by heavy gunfire rocked the Afghan capital of Kabul today, and the Taliban is reportedly claiming responsibility for the attack.

Britain's Prince Harry, who compared shooting insurgents in Afghanistan to playing video games, has probably developed a mental problem, the Taliban said Tuesday.

KABUL, Afghanistan — A Turkish transport helicopter with at least 11 civilians was forced to make an emergency landing in a Taliban-controlled area in eastern Afghanistan, and the insurgents took all the people on board hostage, including eight Turks and a Russian, officials said Monday. The civilian aircraft landed in strong winds and heavy rain on Sunday in a village named Dahra Mangal in the Azra district of Logar province, southeast of Kabul, District Governor Hamidullah Hamid told The Associated Press.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Saturday for the first time that German troops were fighting a war in Afghanistan, as she addressed them on a surprise visit to the country, reporters with her said.Her office said that she had arrived in Kunduz in northern Afghanistan to meet German troops serving there ahead of the Christmas celebrations.She then went on to Mazar-i-Sharif for talks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and the US commander of international forces fighting Taliban insurgents, General David Petraeus.