German Soldier Killed by Suicide Blast in Afghanistan

"One Toyota Corolla vehicle loaded with explosives bumped into an ISAF (International Security Assistance Force) German vehicle in front of a UN office on Jalalabad Road this afternoon," spokesman Yousuf Stanizai said.

"One German soldier and the suicide bomber were killed," he added. "Two German soldiers and three civilians were wounded."

District police chief Mohammed Akbar also confirmed the attack.

"The suicide attack killed a German soldier, wounded two others and also killed the suicide bomber in his vehicle," Akbar said.

Second bombing kills civillian, injures a policeman

A second bombing killed one person and injured a policeman, a short time after and three kilometers (two miles) away from the scene of the earlier suicide attack.

The partially dismembered body of a man lay at the site where a taxi apparently exploded in eastern Kabul, while two cars were badly damaged and some neighboring shops were set on fire, reports said.

Reuters news agency later reported that Abdul Samad, a Taliban spokesman, had telephoned soon after the first car bomb to claim responsibility.

Taliban resurgence marked by increased violence

A spate of suicide bombings in past weeks, most of them largely ineffectual blasts in the volatile south, have been blamed on the ousted fundamentalist Taliban militia.

The deadliest was on Sept. 28 when a suicide attacker in military uniform drove a motorbike into buses outside an army base on the same road in Kabul, killing eight soldiers and a civilian.

The worst experienced by German peacekeepers was in 2003 when four German soldiers were killed and more than 30 wounded in a suicide bomb attack on a bus.

This year has been the worst for insurgency-linked violence since the late 2001 fall of the Taliban, with about 1,400 people killed -- most of them suspected militants.