Provided by AFP An Afghan soldier inspects the wreckage of Afghan Army bus at the site where a suicide bomber on foot targeted the bus full of soldiers in Kabul on December 11, 2014 Taliban insurgents killed at least 19 people in a series of gun and suicide attacks in Afghanistan on Saturday, underlining worsening security as US-led NATO forces end their combat mission in the country.

A suicide blast wrecked an Afghan military bus in Kabul, killing at least six soldiers, while a senior court official was assassinated in the city and 12 Afghan mine clearance workers were gunned down in the south.

Two NATO soldiers were also killed on Friday in an attack in the east of Afghanistan, the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said in a statement, without identifying their nationality.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for all the attacks.

The latest bout of violence comes ahead of the official end of NATO's war against the Taliban on December 31 after 13 years of fighting that has failed to thwart the Islamist insurgency.

The bloodshed has wrecked claims that the insurgency is weakening and highlighted fears that Afghanistan could trip into a spiral of violence as the US-led military presence declines.

NATO's force in Afghanistan will change on December 31 from a combat mission to a support role, with troop numbers cut to about 12,500 -- down from a peak of 130,000 in 2010.

On Saturday, casualties were rushed to hospital after a suicide bomber on foot detonated explosives next to the military bus in central Kabul.

"Six members of the ANA (Afghan National Army) have been martyred," defence ministry deputy spokesman Dawlat Waziri told AFP. "Many other people were taken to hospitals."

The Taliban have often targeted buses that take government and military personnel to work every morning in Kabul, despite efforts by security forces to provide protection for the vulnerable vehicles.

Link:

Multiple attacks kill 19 in Afghanistan as NATO deadline looms