Insurgent strike inside Afghan Defence Ministry, 2 dead

KABUL, (Reuters) – An insurgent killed two people  in the Afghan Defence Ministry today in the third attack on  security installations in four days, with the violence likely to  raise questions about military transition plans due to start  this year.
A man in an Afghan army uniform opened fire in the ministry  in central Kabul, killing two employees and wounding seven, said  Defence Ministry spokesman Zaher Azimy.
The man was also wearing a suicide-bomb belt, but did not  have time to detonate it, said Azimy, who had earlier described  the man as a soldier rather than an insurgent in army uniform.
“The attacker was shot dead before he set off his  explosives, and the situation is normal,” he said.
The attack comes months before the start of a transfer of  security responsibilities from foreign to Afghan forces, and  after NATO-led troops claimed solid progress in efforts to  bolster the numbers and quality of the Afghan police and army.
Under the gradual transition programme, Afghan forces  will begin by taking over from foreign troops in just a few  areas, but should have control of the whole country by the end  of 2014.
But in recent days militants in security uniforms, or  soldiers gone “rogue”, have penetrated some of the most  important police and army installations in the country, in  attacks likely to compound worries about the security  handover.
Afghan forces are already riddled with problems,  ranging from illiteracy to shortages of equipment and leaders,  that will make meeting the 2014 deadline a challenge.
On Saturday, a suicide bomber in an Afghan army  uniform got into a sprawling desert base in the east of the  country and killed five foreign and four Afghan soldiers, the  highest toll of NATO-led troops in a single attack for several  months.
Last Friday, a suicide bomber in police uniform evaded tight  security at the police headquarters in Kandahar city and killed  Khan Mohammad Mujahid, the police chief in the southern province  of Kandahar.
Both places are ringed by formidable defences, but cash or  commitment to the insurgent cause rendered the walls useless at  keeping out militants.