AFGHANISTAN - Aug 30 - Taliban Warn Of More Attacks Before Afghan Election.

The Taliban warns of further deadly attacks before Afghanistan's first Presidential election after a car bomb in the heart of the capital kills at least a dozen people. Three Americans were among those killed in the blast, aimed at the offices of the international security company DynCorp, which provides bodyguards for Pres Hamid Karzai, and also helps to train the national police force. After the attack, the US government warned its citizens to keep a low profile in Kabul. The explosion in Kabul came less than 24 hours after another blast killed 10 people, including nine children, at a religious school in Paktia Province, south of Kabul. And in a separate incident on Sunday, Afghan troops captured five Taliban in the southeastern city of Kandahar before they could carry out an attack on American-led forces, Khalid Pashtun, a spokesman for the provincial governor, told Reuters. After the Kabul blast, a senior Taliban commander said that any city with a Western presence could be a target ahead of the Oct. 9 elections, which Karzai, a US ally, is widely expected to win. "We have started our operations from Kabul under new planning and preparation", said the commander, Mullah Daudullah, one of the 10 members of the Taliban council headed by Mullah Omar, an ally of Osama Bin Laden, the Al Qaeda leader. Another figure who claims to speak for the Taliban, Mullah Hakim Latifi, said that a member of the Taliban carried out the DynCorp attack with a time bomb. He also warned that more attacks would follow. "Taliban began trying to place a bomb in this area three days ago, and finally they have succeeded", Latifi told The AP by telephone from an undisclosed location. "We appeal to civilians to stay away from the elections and places where the Americans and coalition are living and working. They are our priority targets". As those threats were being issued, the US Embassy on Aug 30 e-mailed Americans in Kabul to tell them to limit their movements, take strict security measures and avoid "potential target areas" such as government offices, restaurants and bases of the NATO. UN staff members were also ordered to keep off the streets as much as possible. Lt Commander Ken Mackillop, a spokesman for NATO-led troops in Kabul, said that the FBI and Interpol had joined the bombing investigation. Despite the claims of the Taliban, he said it was still unclear who was behind the attack. He said: "On whether we are seriously considering Al Qaeda or anybody else, all possibilities are open". Mackillop said someone had been detained at Kabul airport with "traces of explosives on his hands", but he cautioned that authorities had not found anything to link him to the bombing. Haji Ikramuddin, the chief of police in the central Shar-e-Naw district where the blast occurred, said no one had been arrested and that "American professionals" were combing the site of the explosion.