Afghan Blast Causes More Alarm Over Security Situation: U.S.

WASHINGTON, Aug 30 (AFP) - The United States said Monday a weekend bombing of a US firm in Afghanistan which killed at least nine people, including three Americans, caused more alarm over the security situation in the insurgency-wracked nation.
The blast, outside US security contractor DynCorp's office in the Shar-e-Naw district on Sunday, was the worst in Kabul since December 28 last year and the second major bomb attack over the weekend.
At least 10 people, most of them youths, died when a bomb exploded at a religious school in southeastern Afghanistan late Saturday.
US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher told reporters the Sunday attack "was directly against a police training facility and therefore causes us even more alarm."
DynCorp provides Afghan President Hamid Karzai's bodyguards and trains the fledgling police force.
The attack was claimed by spokesmen linked to the former Taliban Islamic fundamentalist regime and the Al-Qaeda terror network of Osama bin Laden.
More attacks are expected in the run-up to the October 9 election.
"I do want to take the opportunity to express our deepest sympathy to those killed and injured in the attack," Boucher said.
"We were certainly shocked and saddened by the attack, but we are also committed to working to Afghanistan's success and we will continue to work with Afghanistan in the training of security personnel to ensure a peaceful future for the people of that country," he said.
Boucher said the US embassy in Kabul had advised all Americans living and working in Kabul to restrict their movements, observe the strictest security measures and defer any unnecessary travel around the city.
It had also identified some of the potential target areas.
"The current US travel warning strongly warns citizens against travel to Afghanistan, but we also work with the Americans who are there to try to ensure their safety and security," Boucher said.