Suicide bombers on bicycles killed four people and wounded 31 others in eastern Afghanistan today, the latest attacks coinciding with plans by Nato members to gradually end their security presence.
Two bombers struck in Laghman province, a spokesman said, with the first bomber detonating his explosives at a police checkpoint in the capital Mehtar Lam, and the second struck several hundred metres away.
The attacks come after a spike in violence over the past week, and as Nato, in a two-day summit attended by the 48 countries fighting in Afghanistan, said it would hand over security to Afghan forces from next year, hoping to complete the process by 2014.
"We are not sure what the target of the second bomber was but we think he may have detonated his explosives prematurely," the spokesman said. Earlier reports said the attacks had taken place in neighbouring Alisheng district.
All of the dead were civilians and most of the victims had been riding in two motorised rickshaws, a common form of transport in rural areas that can carry many passengers.
Taj Mohammad, one of the rickshaw drivers, said he was on his way to the hospital when one of the bombs exploded.
"I had three female passengers and I was taking them to the hospital. When I was near to the hospital, I heard a huge bang. After that I did not know what happened, when I opened my eyes I was at the hospital," he said.
Blood-stained sandals could be seen lying near the blast sites and the windows of nearby shops had been shattered by the explosions, another witness said.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the hardline Islamist group had carried out the attack and that the target had been Afghan police and intelligence officials.
Militants have waged several attacks recently, a reminder of the massive and growing military challenge posed by the Afghan insurgency as US president Barack Obama and his administration gear up for a review of the war strategy in December.
Civilian and military casualties this year have been the highest since the 2001 overthrow of the Taliban, despite the presence of around 150,000 foreign troops, and violence has spread to previously peaceful northern provinces.
Last Saturday, Taliban fighters, including at least two suicide bombers, attacked a foreign military base in Jalalabad at the main airport in eastern Afghanistan, one of four incidents in 24 hours, that marked an sudden upswing in violence.
On Monday, the Nato-led force said five of its troops had been killed over the weekend in a clash with insurgents in Kunar province, also in the east. It was the deadliest attack on foreign troops in six months.
At least 2,224 foreign troops have been killed since the start of the war, more than 650 of those in 2010, making it the deadliest year of the war so far.
But civilians have borne the brunt of the fighting as they become caught up in the crossfire. According to UN figures, 1,271 ordinary Afghans were killed in the first six months of this year, a 21 percent jump on the same period in 2009.
Reuters