At Least 5 killed in suicide blasts in Afghanistan

  At least five Afghans have been killed as Taliban attacked the relatively secure western city of Herat in Afghanistan. The first explosion hit at the gates of the Italian base on Monday in a residential area of the city. Police said more than 30 were wounded. Five Italian soldiers were among the wounded, one of them seriously injured, Italian Defense Minister Ignazio La Russa said. A second explosion ripped through a bus stop at a busy downtown intersection and a third explosion was heard near the Italian base, officials said. Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi said both attackers were aiming for the Italian base but the second explosion occurred when the bomber couldn''t get to his target. "That blast may have had some civilian casualties," Ahmadi said. "Our aim was not to kill civilians." Taliban attacks inside Herat are rare, though there are violence-prone districts on the city''s outskirts. But insurgents have been increasing attacks around the country since the group announced its spring offensive in late April and reaching into areas that had been fairly quiet until now. In other violence around Afghanistan, Four NATO service members died on Monday: two in a bomb attack in the east, one when a helicopter made a hard landing in the south and one when an Afghan soldier turned his gun on his NATO colleague