Suicide bombers kill 5 in northern Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- Four gunmen, including at least one suicide bomber, attacked an army recruitment center in northern Afghanistan early Sunday, killing five members of the Afghan security forces, a local official said.

Insurgents also attacked a bus filled with army officers in the capital Kabul, wounding four.

In the attack in northern Kunduz province, militants stormed the recruitment center at daybreak and at least one of them was able to detonate his explosives, said Hamdullah Danishi, the province's deputy governor. The blast shattered windows in nearby homes and gunshots could still be heard coming from the site hours later.

The dead included three Afghan soldiers and two police officers, he added.

Danishi says three of the attackers were killed in the initial assault but one was still alive and fighting with government forces. Further details were not immediately available.

In the capital, insurgents ambushed a bus carrying Afghan army officers to work during the morning rush hour, according to witnesses and the Defense Ministry. They were about four miles (seven kilometers) from downtown on Jalalabad Road - a main route into the city center.

The shooting started at 8 a.m. and was still going on an hour and a half later. Footage from Associated Press Television showed police running up and down the road as they battled the militants.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the attack.

A witness to the assault confirmed that gunmen ambushed the bus as it was heading down the Road.

"The army vehicles were passing this road and then the Taliban or some sort of insurgents started shooting at them," he said.

There were no immediate reports of deaths, though four on the bus were wounded, said Gen. Mohammad Zahir Azimi, a spokesman for the Defense Ministry.

In the south of the country, a NATO service member was also killed in a bomb attack, the international coalition said without providing further details.