Suicide Bomber Attacks Afghan Defense Ministry

KABUL, Afghanistan — An insurgent wearing an Afghan Army uniform and a vest laced with explosives opened fire inside the heavily fortified Ministry of Defense headquarters on Monday, killing at least two soldiers, a ministry spokesman said.

A spokesman for the Taliban, which claimed responsibility for the attack, said the intended target was France’s minister of defense, Gérard Longuet, who was scheduled to visit the compound later in the day. Soldiers shot the attacker before he could detonate his vest, said the Afghan military spokesman, Gen. Zahir Azimi.

The attack was the third in three days on government compounds by insurgents disguised as members of the Afghan national security forces. Their seemingly easy access to even the most heavily guarded locations has intensified concerns over Taliban infiltration of the police and military forces, just as they are preparing to take over security from the American-led coalition in some parts of the country this summer and the entire country by the end of 2014.

Zabiullah Mujaheed, a Taliban spokesman, said the insurgent was from Panjshir Province — the heartland of the Northern Alliance, which helped the United States oust the Taliban in 2001 — and had been serving in the Afghan Army for three years.

But General Azimi said such assertions were premature. “We don’t know whether he was a member of the army or not,” he said. “All I can say is that he was wearing an Afghan National Army uniform. It doesn’t mean he was an army soldier. We are doing our investigation to find out.”

General Azimi said the attacker entered the compound about 11:30 a.m. and opened fire, killing two soldiers and wounding seven close to the defense minister’s office before being fatally shot. An explosives ordnance team then defused his vest. The defense minister, Abdul Rahim Wardak, was not present at the time, General Azimi said.

Soldiers continued searching the compound, which covers several city blocks in downtown Kabul, looking for other possible attackers late into the afternoon. Contrary to earlier reports, the general said no hostages had been taken. A doctor at Kabul’s military hospital said three soldiers had been killed; there was no immediate explanation for the discrepancy in the death toll.

Mr. Longuet, who had arrived on Sunday to meet with French troops deployed here, was not in the ministry at the time of the attack, according to the military command in Paris. He had been scheduled to attend a joint news conference with Afghan military officials at 1:30 p.m.

It was the latest in a string of attacks aimed at Afghan government and military officials in what the Taliban has called the beginning of its spring offensive. On Saturday, a suicide bomber killed five NATO service members in eastern Afghanistan. A day earlier, a suicide bomber killed the police chief of Kandahar Province. In both attacks, the bombers were dressed in Afghan Army or police uniforms.

“Using these kinds of attacks is very useful for us in recruiting someone and working inside Afghan forces,” Mr. Mujaheed, the Taliban spokesman, said in a telephone interview after Saturday’s attack. “This inflicts more casualties and does not cause any civilian casualties.”

He added, “We have many more youths who are already in Afghan military ranks waiting for their chance to attack.”

General Azimi said the government was working to root out insurgents from the army and police forces, but acknowledged that the task was daunting. “We have set up a security team who is watching suspicious people inside military forces, but it’s hard to recognize them,” he said.

Even when they are not in the military, insurgents have easy access to police and army uniforms, General Azimi said. An elder in a remote village in the eastern province of Paktika, along the Pakistan border, recently told a reporter for The New York Times that insurgents had been showing up in his village dressed in Afghan Army and police uniforms.

“You know, finding uniforms is easy,” General Azimi said. “They can find it anywhere, and they can make it. People sell military equipment in the bazaar. We have collected and confiscated uniforms several times, but again it’s hard to collect all of them. Besides, you can find them in the provinces as well.”

The attack on the Defense Ministry was just part of a bloody two days for Afghan security forces. In Ghazni Province, south of the capital, six police officers were killed when their vehicle struck a roadside bomb, said Musa Khan Akbar Zada, the provincial police chief.

Three more police officers were killed Sunday night in Oruzgan Province when their vehicle struck an improvised explosive device, said the provincial police chief, Fazal Ahmad Shirzad.

Sharifullah Sahak contributed reporting from Kabul, Scott Sayare from Paris, and Taimoor Shah from Kandahar.