Five killed in car-bomb attack on Afghan police

By Hamid Shalizi

KABUL (Reuters) - A vehicle packed with rockets blew up outside police headquarters in the Afghan capital on Saturday, killing five people and wounding two, the government said.

The Taliban, which relies heavily on suicide and roadside bombs in their insurgency against the government and foreign troops, claimed responsibility for the bombing, which a Defense Ministry official had earlier said was a suicide attack.

"It was a remote-controlled explosion in a mini-truck vehicle packed with rockets near the office of city police," an Interior Ministry official said.

The five dead were civilians, he said.

The vehicle was packed with BM12 rockets pointing towards the police chief's office, a police official said. About five of the rockets failed to explode, he said.

A Taliban spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, claimed responsibility.

In early December, Taliban suicide bombers attacked twice in Kabul around the time of a visit by U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

A bomber slammed his car into a bus filled with Afghan soldiers in Kabul on December 5, killing 13 people. On December 4, a NATO convoy was hit by a similar attack close to the international airport. There were no NATO casualties, but 22 Afghans were wounded.