Taliban hold Afghan army recruitment centre in Kunduz

Two Taliban fighters were occupying an army recruitment centre in northern Afghanistan Sunday, officials said, in one of two attacks against military personnel that killed 13 people.

Reuters/Stringer

The two rebels survived after attacking the centre along with another two who were killed. All four had suicide vests and automatic rifles, an official said.

They attackers killed four Afghan soldiers and four police, deputy provincial governor Hamidullah Danishi told the AFP news agency.

He said the rebels had access to some military ammunition in the building and were resisting a counterattack by hundreds of Afghan security forces and US and German troops

In the capital, Kabul, two suicide bombers targeted an army bus, killing five military personnel, defence ministry official General Mohammad Zahir Azimi said.

Nine people were injured, he said.

The vehicle was on its daily run, driving staff from the Kabul military training centre to work, when two suicide attackers armed with automatic rifles opened fire.

"One of the suicide attackers was shot dead but the second managed to detonate his explosives strapped to his body, and martyred five of our personnel and wounded another nine," Azimi told AFP.

The incident took place on Pul-e-charkhi road, which links the capital Kabul to eastern provinces and runs on to the Pakistani border.

A Taliban representative, Zabihullah Muhahid, claimed responsibility for both attacks.

One civilian was killed Sunday morning and four children were wounded when their vehicle was struck by a roadside bomb in Panjwayi district, in the troubled province of Kandahar.