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KABUL, Afghanistan — Insurgents launched separate suicide attacks on Tuesday against a NATO convoy and an office of the Afghan intelligence agency, the third wave of such attacks in the country’s capital in as many weeks.

In the first attack Tuesday, a car bomber drove into a passing convoy in the Shah Shaheed neighborhood of the eastern part of Kabul, blowing himself up and injuring two people, police said.

Coalition spokesman Col. Brian Tribus said the attack occurred about 11:30 a.m. “No coalition forces were killed,” he said.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack.

About three hours later, two suicide bombers were killed as they tried to enter a facility of the National Directorate of Security, the agency said in a statement. The Associated Press reported that one of the guards at the facility also was killed in the incident.

On June 30, two civilians died and dozens were wounded when a car bomber detonated his explosives near a military convoy close to the main entrance to the U.S. Embassy. In an audacious attack on June 22, a Taliban suicide bomber struck at the gate of the parliament building. The blast was followed by a raid in which all six Taliban attackers were killed trying to penetrate the compound.

The escalating violence prompted Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain, head of the Senate Armed Services Committee, to urge the Obama administration to put on hold plans to withdraw almost all U.S. forces from Afghanistan by 2016.

Since last year’s withdrawal of NATO combat forces, 13,000 coalition troops, mostly Americans, remain in the country. Most are tasked with training and advising the Afghan army and police.

Zubair Babakarkhail contributed to this story.lekic.slobodan@stripes.com

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