KABUL (AFP) — Two suicide car bombs blew up near international troops in Afghanistan Sunday, killing two Afghan civilians and wounding at least three soldiers, officials said.
A dozen Afghan civilians were also wounded in one of the bombs, which blew up near a convoy of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in the northern province of Baghlan, the interior ministry said.
Ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary told AFP two civilians were also killed in the blast in the town of Pul-i-Khumri.
ISAF confirmed the explosion and said initial reports were that one soldier had been hurt.
Afghan police said the blast had struck a convoy of German troops but this was not confirmed by the 40-nation force.
The other suicide car bomb on Sunday was on the outskirts of the western city of Herat, outside a military camp, and wounded two US soldiers, the US military said.
The insurgent Taliban said one of its followers had carried out the attack.
The group was in government for five years until 2001, when they were ousted in a US-led invasion for not handing over their Al-Qaeda allies following the September 11 attacks on the United States.
They have been behind a wave of suicide and other attacks across the country that are most often aimed at troops but kill more civilians.
ISAF announced earlier that one of its soldiers was killed in another bomb blast in southern Afghanistan on Saturday. It did not release the nationality of the trooper or say where the blast had occurred.
Troops meanwhile killed five militants in an operation Saturday aimed at Al-Qaeda in the eastern province of Paktia on the border with Pakistan, the US military announced.
The troops also detained a "significant Al-Qaeda associated militant known to finance militant operations and to assist Taliban leaders with the movement and training of Arab and foreign fighters into Afghanistan," it said.
A similar operation in the adjacent border province of Khost targeted the radical Haqqani network which has links with Al-Qaeda. About 10 suspected militants were detained, the statement said.
Another five militants were killed Friday in the southern province of Uruzgan in a gunfight with troops, another coalition statement said.
Insurgent attacks are said to be at their highest this year, dashing Afghanistan's hopes for stability and reconstruction after nearly three decades of war.
International commanders, who have around 60-70,000 troops in Afghanistan, have called for more troops for the battle.
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