2 U.S. Soldiers Among More Than A Dozen Killed In Afghan Attacks

By Scott Neuman

Published December 13, 2014 at 8:29 AM EST

Afghan security personnel inspect a damaged bus at the site of a suicide attack in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Saturday. There was no immediate report of casualties, but the attack was one of several in the last 24 hours that have been blamed on the Taliban.

It's been a violent 24 hours in Afghanistan:

-- 12 workers clearing mines on Saturday were attacked by Taliban militants and another dozen were wounded, a police spokesman said.

-- Also on Saturday, the Taliban claimed responsibility for killing Atiqullah Rawoofi, the head of the Supreme Court's secretariat. Police said he was on his way to work when he was shot.

-- Two U.S. soldiers were killed in eastern Afghanistan late Friday when militants attacked a convoy near Bagram air near the capital, The Associated Press reports, quoting an official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

-- A suicide bomber destroyed a bus carrying Afghan soldiers on Saturday, Reuters reports, but there were no immediate reports of casualties.

The AP notes: "Security in the capital, Kabul, has been stepped up as the Taliban have warned that attacks will continue as most foreign troops prepare to withdraw at the end of the month, 13 years after the Sept. 11 terror attacks sparked the U.S.-led invasion."

The attacks come after Taliban suicide bombers targeted multiple foreign guesthouses and international aid efforts in the Afghan capital last month in what NPR's Sean Carberry described at the time as the most sustained period of violence in Kabul in more than two years.