Taliban Says It Behind Hit

A suicide attacker laden with hand grenades set off a string of explosions in a bustling bazaar in the Afghan capital Saturday, killing himself and injuring seven others, including three NATO soldiers, officials said.

A Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility for the assault, which left the man's mutilated body slumped between the soldiers' car and the blood-spattered front of a carpet store.

The attack provided a sharp reminder of the violent opposition of Taliban and al Qaeda militants to the foreign-backed government of interim leader Hamid Karzai, as vote counting continued in Afghanistan's first presidential election.

In another incident, a bomb exploded near a U.S. military truck in eastern Nangahar province on Saturday, damaging its windshield and injuring the hand of one Marine, American military spokesman Maj. Mark McCann said.

Lt. Col. Patrick Poulain, a spokesman for the NATO-led force which has provided security in the capital since the fall of the Taliban in 2001, said the attacker in Kabul's downtown Chicken Street threw at least three hand grenades, one of which failed to explode.

The city's police chief, Gen. Baba Jan, said the man then detonated about six more grenades, apparently strapped to his body.

Two of the soldiers were slightly hurt and the third "more seriously," Poulain said. He declined to give the nationalities of the soldiers, who were admitted to a German-run field hospital, but NATO troops at the scene said they included Norwegians.

Poulain said a foreign woman was also injured along with three Afghan civilians, but wasn't able to provide any details on her identity. Police had no word of any female foreigners among the injured.

Abdul Wahid, who runs a shop next door to where the attack happened, said he heard three explosions, rushed outside and saw five injured people: an injured Western woman, two foreign soldiers and two Afghan children - a young girl who often begged there and the 13-year old son of a shopkeeper.

"I saw the beggar girl running down the street, her hands covered in blood," he told The Associated Press.

Police sealed off the street as Afghan investigators examined the corpse of the young, bearded attacker, which lay twisted on the sidewalk amid discarded shoes and broken glass.

One officer retrieved a tattered sleeve containing the man's blackened arm from the other side of the road.

A sports utility vehicle bearing the green insignia of the NATO force sat in front of the store, its engine still running, but with one rear window blown out and its front tires punctured by the explosion.

Chicken Street, the heart of the capital's rejuvenated commercial district, is crammed with convenience stores and souvenir shops popular with foreign aid workers and soldiers.

But security officials and embassies have warned that the area could also present an ideal target for extremists.

The American Embassy has urged caution during the election period, particularly since Aug. 29 when a car bomb at the office of a U.S. security contractor killed about 10 people, including three Americans.

Mullah Abdul Hakim Latifi, a Taliban spokesman, said one of its fighters carried out the latest attack.

"This man was an Afghan, and he had a bomb strapped to his body," Latifi told AP by satellite telephone from an undisclosed location. "The elections cannot stop our holy war."

The authenticity of the claim couldn't be verified. Some assertions of responsibility for attacks from Latifi in the past have turned out to be false.

In January, the Taliban claimed back-to-back suicide bombings in Kabul which killed two NATO soldiers - one Canadian, one British. No conclusions from the investigations into those attacks have been made public.

While about 1,000 people have died in political violence across Afghanistan so far this year, election day on Oct. 9 passed without major violence, prompting officials to assert that the Taliban are a fading force and that the country is on course for stability after a quarter-century of strife.

Preliminary results suggest that Karzai, who enjoys strong American backing, is heading for victory, probably with the simple majority needed to avoid a run-off.

With 6.6 million, or four-fifths of the votes counted as of Saturday evening, the interim leader had 3,574,203 votes or 54.6 percent. Former Education Minister Yunus Qanooni trailed with 17 percent.