Afghans Thwart Suicide Attacks in Kabul

Afghan intelligence agents on Wednesday arrested five suicide bombers with hundreds of kilos of explosives near Kabul international airport.

"We have arrested five suicide attackers with 560 kilograms of explosives in a minivan just near the gate of Kabul international airport," National Directorate of Security (NDS) spokesman Lutfullah Mashal told Agence France Presse.

It was not immediately clear if the would-be bombers intended to attack the airport.

Earlier Wednesday, the U.S. embassy announced that all travel for embassy staff was restricted in the area around the NDS headquarters and the nearby foreign ministry in the center of the city for 48 hours.

On April 15, three squads of Taliban suicide attackers staged an 18-hour assault on the capital, targeting government offices, embassies and foreign military bases.

The Taliban are waging an insurgency against the government of President Hamid Karzai, which is backed by 130,000 NATO troops who will withdraw by the end of 2014 and hand responsibility for security over to Afghan forces.