Suicide bomber targets Afghan soldiers near Kabul

General Farid Afzail, head of the Kabul Crime Branch Unit, told the AFP news agency the bomber targeted the Afghan army soldiers in the Tangi Tarakhil area around 7.15 a.m. local time. "As a result of the attack, six Afghan officers were martyred and 10 others were wounded," said Afzail.

Afghanistan's defense ministry has confirmed the Thursday morning attack.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid claimed the responsibility for the killings in a message sent to the media. The militant group, however, said the bombing killed 12 officers and injured 13.

The Afghan capital has been hit by a series of violent attacks in the past month, raising concerns about the Afghan government's capability to secure the war-torn nation after the planned departure of foreign combat troops in about three weeks. Some 13,000 NATO troops will remain in the South Asian country to train and advise the local security forces.

The attack comes as the United States announced it had released the last "third-country nationals" in US custody in Afghanistan. The release of the three final detainees from the Parwan Detention Center marks the end of US prison operations in Afghanistan after more than a decade of war.

Meanwhile, the officials of the Parwan province said on Wednesday that a NATO air strike had killed five Afghan students in the area. The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force was unavailable to verify the claims.

Civilian deaths caused by foreign forces' aerial bombardment have been a major cause of friction between the Afghan government and the West.

shs/rc (AFP, Reuters, dpa)