The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, Kabul

Two bombs struck the Afghan capital Saturday, one of them killing five civilians, while nine people died in new attacks in a Taliban insurgency that is in its bloodiest year so far, officials said.

A car-bomb placed outside Kabul police headquarters tore through a busy area of the city, killing at least four civilian bystanders, officials and a witness said. The second bomb was remote-controlled and detonated near the city's main jail, causing only minor damage to a military vehicle, the defence ministry said.

The extremist Taliban movement claimed responsibility for the car-bomb, saying it was aimed at the city police who share a compound with the governor's office and courts. "Five civilians have been killed and two police have been wounded. Some civilians have been wounded too," interior ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary told AFP.

The government ambulance service said however one of two dead bodies it evacuated was that of a policeman. Seven wounded people were also evacuated, said the regional coordinator of the Kabul Ambulance Service, Badrt-Rija Badar.

The interior ministry said the bombing was "unprecedented" and appeared to be a new "terrorist tactic." Afghanistan has been gripped by a wave of violence that has grown in the past two years and is largely attributed to the Taliban, who were in government between 1996 and 2001.