KABUL (AFP) — Two bomb blasts on Friday killed four Afghan civilians, one of whom worked for the US military as an interpreter, in the latest attacks in an insurgency led by Taliban militants, authorities said.
The first explosion was in the turbulent southern province of Helmand, where a remote-controlled roadside bomb struck a vehicle and killed three civilians, the interior ministry said in a statement.
Two more were wounded, it said, without giving details of the casualties.
The bomb was planted by the "country's enemies," it said in a reference to the Taliban who are particularly active in Helmand.
Another bomb tore into a vehicle in the eastern town of Khost, blowing off the leg of a man who died later, Afghan officials said.
"A man died in the hospital from wounds while another was wounded," provincial police spokesman Kochai Naseri said.
Khost health director Sayed Amir Badsha Rahmatzai said he had worked as an interpreter for US forces.
A Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahed, confirmed they had carried out the attack and accused the dead man of being a spy.
The bomb had been magnetically fixed to a minivan in which they were travelling, police said.
The Taliban, who were in government between 1996 and 2001, vowed this year to step up their attacks on international troops and associated Afghan security forces and officials.
There are fears the violence could affect the August presidential election, the second in Afghanistan's history.
Thousands of extra soldiers are pouring into Afghanistan, most of them to the south, to reinforce efforts against the insurgency as well as the vote.
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