Seven Afghans slain in two suicide attacks

Two deadly bombings Thursday in Afghanistan underscored the difficulties in combating the nightmarish tactics of the Taliban insurgency, which is increasingly sending suicide bombers through cities in search of vulnerable targets.

Thursday’s attacks claimed seven victims, including the deputy governor of turbulent Helmand province, who was praying in a mosque.

A declining sense of security pervades many parts of the country, as American and other NATO troops tackle a revived insurgency. Although the North Atlantic Treaty Organization argues that it has rolled back the Taliban’s territorial gains in Afghanistan’s violent southern and eastern regions, the insurgents have increasingly turned to terrorist attacks with the aim of weakening support for the U.S.-backed government.

The first attack Thursday was an early morning suicide car bombing that apparently targeted a passing Afghan army bus in Kabul, the capital. The blast killed a civilian and injured four others, according to the Interior Ministry.

Hours later, a suicide bomber detonated explosives inside a mosque during afternoon prayers in Helmand’s provincial capital, Lashkar Gah, killing Pir Mohammed, the deputy governor. Five other people died, police said.

Helmand is the heart of Afghanistan’s lucrative opium trade, and the provincial government had begun a new opium poppy eradication program two days earlier. But Western officials in Helmand said it was extremely unlikely the attack on the deputy governor was narcotics-related, noting that suicide bombings are a hallmark of extremists, not warlords and criminal gangs enmeshed in the drug trade.

Mohammed’s death was seen as a blow to efforts by British troops to restore confidence in security among residents of Helmand. The deputy governor had been working closely with the British to establish institutions that would allow foreign troops and civilian officials to adopt a lower profile, a key component of NATO’s evolving counter-insurgency strategy.

The number of deaths among coalition forces has risen steadily in recent years, from 130 in 2005 to 232 last year. The Afghanistan NGO Safety Office reported that 1,977 civilians were killed in insurgency-related violence in 2007.

The British have been making territorial gains against the Taliban in recent months, evicting them from strongholds and claiming that improved security has led Afghans to begin informing on would-be suicide bombers.

But Thursday’s blasts show that some suicide bombers continue to get through the security mesh. The developing problem, Western officials say, is the Taliban tactic of “random” suicide bombings, in which would-be attackers drive or walk through a city waiting until they spot security flaws and high-profile targets.

Security sources say they believe a Jan. 14 commando-style assault on Kabul’s Serena Hotel that killed seven hotel staff members and visitors was one such attack of opportunity. They believe the gunmen and suicide bombers did not necessarily plan to hit the hotel that day, at that hour. Instead, they were dropped off in the area, armed, and chose to strike when they perceived a weakness in the hotel’s security.

The Taliban subsequently vowed to hit restaurants and other places in Kabul where members of the international community tend to gather after work hours, a threat that has led most foreigners to lie low.

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bruce.wallace@latimes.com

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Special correspondent M. Karim Faiez contributed to this report.