Afghan official: suicide bomber kills 6 soldiers

KABUL, Afghanistan - A senior Afghan defense official says that a suicide bomber struck a bus carrying Afghan Army personnel, killing six as violence in the country spikes just weeks before most international combat forces withdraw.

Maj. Gen. Afzal Aman, chief of operations at the Defense Ministry, says the Saturday afternoon attack in the southwestern suburbs of the capital Kabul also wounded 14, and that officers were among the dead.

He added that the bus had been taking the officers home when it was struck, most likely by an attacker on foot.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, the third major incident of the day. In the morning, the head of the secretariat for the Afghan Supreme Court, Atiqullah Rawoofi, was gunned down outside his home in Kabul.