Afghan Vice President, Interior Minister Escape Rocket Attack

The Taliban targeted top government officials in Afghanistan on Wednesday, killing seven people in a suicide car bombing and firing rockets at the vice president and interior minister, who escaped unhurt.

Both attacks struck central Afghanistan, not far from the heavily secured capital Kabul, and were claimed by the militia leading a nearly 10-year insurgency against U.S.-led NATO troops and the Afghan government.

In the first attack, an attacker drove a car laden with explosives towards a government building in Mahmud Raqi, capital Kapisa province northeast of Kabul.

The government said the driver blew himself up when he was stopped at a nearby checkpoint.

The interior ministry said in a statement: "At around 10:00 am (05:30 GMT), a suicide car bomb attack was carried out. As a result, five civilians and two policemen were martyred and one policeman and three civilians were injured."

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said it had carried out the attack which he claimed had targeted the French ambassador to Afghanistan and French soldiers who were visiting the governor's office at the time.

The French ambassador to Kabul told Agence France Presse he was 15 minutes away when the attack happened and that his impending visit had been publicly known.

"I had a meeting this morning with the government then with all the Kapisa deputies. At the moment, I have nothing that allows me to think I was targeted," Bernard Bajolet told AFP.

"My visit was known because all the deputies of Kapisa were involved."

Lieutenant Colonel Eric de la Presle, a spokesman for the French contingent based in Kapisa, said no French soldier had been present at the time of attack.

In the second incident, Afghan Vice President Karim Khalili and Interior Minister Besmullah Mohammadi escaped unhurt after a rocket attack targeted a police center they were visiting but landed close by instead.

Provincial spokesman Shahidullah Shahid said the attack happened in the Chaki Wardak district of Wardak province, a restive area west of Kabul.

"There was a security meeting in the police training center at which the interior minister and second vice president were present," he said.

"After the meeting was over and we were leaving, a rocket landed within a few hundred meters of the center but nobody was injured," he added.

The Taliban also claimed responsibility for that attack.

Khalili, one of President Hamid Karzai's two deputies, was born in Wardak.

Taliban-led insurgents frequently launch attacks on senior Afghan government officials as well as the police and army but it is relatively rare for two such senior figures to be targeted.

There are currently around 130,000 international forces in Afghanistan battling the Taliban insurgency alongside Afghan government forces.

A limited handover of power from foreign to Afghan forces and officials is due to take place in seven areas of Afghanistan from sometime in July, although the exact timetable is still not clear.

Fighting usually peaks over the summer months although NATO forces stress they have been battling the Taliban hard over the winter. The insurgents announced the start of their fighting season at the end of April.