Another suicide bombing in Afghanistan has killed at least two people and injured seven in an attack inside the country’s defense ministry in Kabul.

Following the pattern seen in a recent wave of bombings, the attacker went into the building disguised as an Afghan soldier. He reportedly had a defense ministry pass to gain access into the structure, before blowing himself up, and killing a bodyguard for the deputy minister of defense.

There are conflicting reports of how many bombers there were and how they (or he) died,

BBC reported that the bomber was shot to death by bodyguards inside the ministry and that he failed to detonate his suicide vest.

However, Al Jazeera said that there were actually three suicide bombers, not just one.

There were three suicide bombers, dressed in military uniforms, and they managed to get through three to four security checkpoints into the ministry of defense,” an Al Jazeera correspondent reported.

The ministry of defense is adjacent to the presidential palace and it is one of the most heavily fortified places. One of them got to the third floor, blew himself, killing the bodyguard of the deputy minister and injuring three others. The second suicide bomber was shot dead and search is underway for the third suicide bomber.

In any case, the Taliban claimed responsibility for the latest attack and said the target for the attack was Gerard Longuet, the French defense minister, who is visiting Afghanistan.

However, Agence France Presse reported that the French government said it had seen no evidence that Longuet was the target of the attack.

The Taliban also reportedly said they also wanted to kill the “puppet” Afghan defense minister, Abdul Rahim Wardak.
(Wardak was not in the ministry during the attack).

Over the past four days, three major assaults have been reported inside Afghan security force compounds.

Taliban insurgents have been stepping up their attacks on foreign troops, as well as Afghan army and police, ahead of a planned transfer of security responsibilities to Afghan officials from NATO.

US President Barack Obama has set a July deadline for the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan.

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