Suicide bombers hit 'peaceful' Afghan city

Taliban suicide bombers blew up two vehicles in the western city of Herat yesterday, killing at least four Afghans and displaying the militants' reach into an area considered secure enough to be handed over soon to Afghan government control.

In the first blast, a suicide attacker blew up an explosives-packed car at an Italian military base in Herat. Five Italian soldiers were wounded, one of them seriously, the Italian Defence Minister, Ignazio La Russa, said. A second explosion ripped through a busy road junction in the normally peaceful city.