Blast wounds 7 in Kabul, clash leaves 3 Taliban dead, 7 injured

Anti-government militants in their attack against the establishment launched a bomb attack on a bus of government employees in the outskirts of Afghan capital Kabul, injuring at least seven people on Sunday, Kabul police said in a statement released here. "A bomb planted on a bus of the employees of the ministry for agriculture went off at 07:20 a.m. local time today in the eighth police district of Kabul city, injuring seven persons," the statement said. The statement didn't point finger at any group or individuals for the attack. However, an official who declined to be named blamed the attack on the enemies of peace, a term used against Taliban militants for the attack, saying all those received injuries in the blast were the employees of the ministry for agriculture. Taliban militants who are largely relying on suicide and roadside bomb attacks have yet to make comment. A day earlier on Saturday, the Taliban insurgents raided checkpoints in Qasar district of the northern Faryab province, leaving three attackers dead, said a local official. "A group of armed Taliban rebels raided security checkpoints in Qaisar district late Saturday and security forces retaliated killing three rebels and injuring two others," a security official in the province, Mohammad Reza Rezai told Xinhua. Three civilians and two security personnel had also sustained injuries in the clash which lasted for a while,Rezai added. Taliban militants confirmed the clash and in a statement posted on its website, the armed outfit claimed that five security personnel had been killed. Moreover, police in Afghanistan's southern Kandahar province, the former stronghold of Taliban have discovered a weapon cache containing a variety of ordnance, Interior Ministry said in a statement released here on Sunday. "Units of police during search operations in Panjwai district of Kandahar province have found a weapon cache containing various arms and explosive devices, including 82 anti-tanks and anti- personnel mines," the statement added.