Two Suicide Blasts Kill 8 in Afghanistan

Suicide bombers rammed cars filled with explosives into NATO peacekeeping vehicles in two attacks in the Afghan capital Monday, killing a German soldier and seven other people. Police blamed Al Qaeda.

Troops thwarted a suspected third bomb attempt by shooting dead three people in a car racing toward the scene of the blasts.

The bombings occurred within 90 minutes of each other near the headquarters of Afghan-U.N. election organizers.

After the first attack, the body of the German soldier lay on the ground under a crumpled armored military vehicle. Bits of the sedan that the attacker used were strewn across the road.

The second bombing killed seven Afghans, including a child, and set fire to a Greek military jeep, said Maj. Andrew Elmes, a spokesman for the peacekeepers. State TV showed a peacekeeper carrying an Afghan man whose legs had been blown off to an ambulance. Another man lay motionless on the ground, naked and covered in blood.

Police Gen. Mohammed Akbar said that “only Al Qaeda has the capability” to pull off such a coordinated attack.