Kabul Peacekeepers Had Been Warned of Suicide Bombings

International peacekeepers had received numerous warnings of suicide bombing attacks like the one that killed four German soldiers Saturday, and they expect more to come, officials said Sunday.

Warnings come in every day, and “we take them all very, very seriously,” International Security Assistance Force Lt. Col. Thomas Lobbering told reporters here Sunday. Yet by their very nature, terrorist attacks can’t be predicted and there is no guarantee they can be avoided, he cautioned.

The situation in Kabul, the Afghan capital, “is not yet stable and not yet 100% safe,” so peacekeepers must “continue our mission here although we may expose our lives to threats,” Lobbering said. “And this is at the core of the task of a soldier.”

Meanwhile, Afghan state television said Sunday that government forces attacked suspected Taliban strongholds in the southeastern part of the country, killing at least two enemy fighters. Last week, Afghan troops reported killing at least 40 Taliban fighters in the same area, near Spin Buldak, with seven Afghan government soldiers also dying.

Afghan Defense Minister Mohammed Qassim Fahim has suggested that Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaeda network may be behind the bombing that killed the German soldiers. Afghan authorities are investigating the attack, with ISAF assistance, Lobbering said.

A suicide bomber in a taxi destroyed a bus carrying the German peacekeepers to Kabul airport Saturday morning. The taxi pulled up alongside the bus and exploded as the bus reached the outskirts of Kabul, on its way from an ISAF base east of the city.

The blast also wounded 31 other soldiers, none of whom sustained life-threatening injuries. At least one Afghan civilian was also reported killed in the explosion and an unknown number wounded, Lobbering said.

The German peacekeeping soldiers were wearing flak jackets on the bus, “so the number of people being killed luckily is much less than what one could expect otherwise,” Lobbering said. Germany currently commands a 5,000-strong international peacekeeping force that operates mainly in the Kabul area.

As a precaution against further attacks, the peacekeepers will stop using buses “for the time being,” Lobbering said. “But let it be clear that it is a part of our task here in Kabul to take care of security together with the Afghan authorities, which means that we have to continue our task by car patrols and that is exactly what we are doing.”

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Times wire services contributed to this report.