Suicide attacks kill 12 before Afghan vote

Taliban attacks rocked Afghanistan Tuesday two days before elections as suicide bombers killed more than 12 people, including UN staff and NATO troops, and a rocket slammed into the presidential compound. The violence, striking at the heart of the capital Kabul, followed renewed Taliban threats to sabotage Thursday's ballot when 17 million Afghans will elect a president and heightened fears voters could stay away. A suicide car bomb ripped through a busy road used frequently by NATO and US troops, near a US military base and a bustling market, killing seven Afghan civilians and wounding around another 50, officials said. Reports indicate both Afghan civilians and ISAF (International Security Assistance Force) service members were killed and wounded in the blast as the vehicle exploded near an ISAF convoy, said the NATO-led force.