Suicide attack kills 1 Afghan soldier in the south

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — A suicide bomber attacked an Afghan army base in southern Afghanistan on Friday, killing a soldier and wounding four other people, an official said.

The bomber rammed his vehicle into the base’s gate in Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand province, said Daud Ahmadi, the provincial governor’s spokesman. Three civilians and a soldier were among the wounded, he said.

Thousands of U.S. Marines are currently conducting anti-Taliban operations in Helmand, a key southern province that is the center of Taliban-led insurgency as well as the biggest opium producer in the world.

Militants have stepped up their use of suicide and other bombing attacks on Afghan and foreign troops, but the majority of the victims in such attacks have been civilians.

In the capital, meanwhile, two rockets were fired at Kabul’s airport Friday, but neither caused damage or casualties, said U.S. military spokesman, Chief Petty Officer Brian Naranjo. It was the second rocket attack on the capital this month.

Taliban militants took responsibility for the previous attack.

A week before the presidential election there are fears that the militants will try to disrupt the poll.

Kabul is heavily guarded by Afghan security forces, and authorities say that rockets —fired from a distance — are the only weapon insurgents can use against the capital.

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Associated Press writer Fisnik Abrashi in Kabul contributed to this report.