Afghan conflict: Two suicide attacks hit Kabul hours apart

A Nato convoy and an Afghan intelligence agency office have been targeted in two suicide attacks hours apart in the Afghan capital Kabul.

In the first attack a car bomb hit a land cruiser carrying foreign forces. Nato said there were no fatalities.

In the second attack, two people tried to storm an intelligence office in the Eighth Precinct after a third man blew himself up on a bomb-laden motorbike.

A guard was killed and another person injured. Two gunmen were also killed.

The Taliban and another militant group, Hezb-e-Islami, have said they carried out the first attack, in the Shah Shahid area of the city.

The violence comes as diplomatic sources confirmed the presence of Afghanistan's deputy foreign minister for political affairs, Hikmat Karzai, in the Pakistani capital Islamabad at the same time as a Taliban delegation from Qatar.

If a meeting takes place, it would be a pre-talk discussion similar to those already held in Beijing, Urumqi and Oslo, says BBC Kabul bureau chief Waheed Massoud.

The Taliban has stepped up its campaign of violence in recent months, taking advantage of the warmer weather of spring and summer. It has been making military gains, especially in northern Afghanistan.

Last week, a suicide bomber struck a convoy of Nato troops close to the US embassy, killing one civilian and injuring 22.