Afghanistan insurgents hit NATO base, downtown Herat in coordinated attacks

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http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-afghanistan-attacks-20110531,0,5403894.story

Reporting from Kabul, Afghanistan—
These days, the parts of Afghanistan that are considered relatively safe may well have a bull's-eye painted on them.

Insurgents staged deadly coordinated strikes Monday in the western city of Herat, where an explosion killed at least four people in a bustling downtown area and a car bomb detonated at the gates of a NATO base, injuring several Italian soldiers inside, Afghan and coalition officials said. An Afghan soldier died in a subsequent shootout.

Herat, a normally tranquil city that lies close to Afghanistan's border with Iran, has been designated as one of the first areas of the country where security responsibilities are to be handed over to Afghan forces by Western troops beginning in July.

But it is feared the Taliban and other insurgent groups will target these seven cities or provinces in advance of the security transition, seeking to sap the morale of local people, together with that of the Afghan police and soldiers who are supposed to protect them.

Coinciding with the attacks in Herat, three members of the NATO force were killed Monday in other parts of the country, according to military statements. Two died in a roadside bombing in the east, and one in a helicopter's "hard landing" -- essentially a controlled crash -- in the south. It marked the second time in five days a Western service member was killed in a chopper crash.