Blasts show Afghan security challenge

KABUL, Afghanistan - Two deadly bombings in Afghanistan yesterday underscored the difficulties in combating the nightmarish tactics of the Taliban insurgency, a campaign that now increasingly uses suicide bombers who move through cities in search of vulnerable targets.

The bombings killed seven people, including the deputy governor of turbulent Helmand province, who was struck inside a mosque.

NATO, which leads the allied effort in Afghanistan, says it has rolled back the Taliban's territorial gains in the violent southern and eastern regions. But the insurgents increasingly have turned to terror attacks with the aim of weakening support for the U.S.-backed government of President Hamid Karzai.

The first attack yesterday was an early-morning car bombing that apparently targeted a passing Afghanistan army bus on a road in Kabul. The blast killed a civilian and injured four, the Interior Ministry said.

The capital city immediately was gripped by rumors that other would-be bombers were roaming the streets in search of targets.

Another strike came hours later, although not in the capital. A suicide bomber detonated explosives inside a mosque during afternoon prayers in Helmand's provincial capital, Lashkar Gah, killing Pir Mohammed, the province's deputy governor, and five others, police said.

Helmand is the heart of Afghanistan's lucrative heroin trade, and the provincial government had begun a new eradication program just two days ago. But Western officials in Helmand said it was unlikely the deputy governor's killing was drug-related, noting that suicide bombings were a hallmark of religious extremists, not warlords and criminal gangs enmeshed in the drug trade.

Mohammad's murder was seen as a blow to efforts by British troops to restore confidence in security among the local population in Helmand.

The deputy governor had been working closely with the British to establish government institutions that would allow foreign troops and civilian officials to adopt a lower profile, a key component of NATO's evolving counterinsurgency strategy.

The British have been making territorial gains against the Taliban in recent months, evicting them from strongholds and saying improved security has led Afghan citizens to begin informing on suicide bombers.

Yesterday's blasts show that some suicide bombers continue to get through the security mesh. The new problem, Western officials say, is the Taliban tactic of "random" suicide bombings, in which attackers drive or walk through the city waiting until they spot security flaws and high-profile targets.