Afghan bombs kill five, wound 40

Five people were killed and nearly 40 wounded in two bomb blasts in Afghanistan, as a town mourned 14 children killed at the weekend in a Taliban suicide attack.

Five people were killed and nearly 40 wounded in two bomb blasts in Afghanistan on Sunday, as a town mourned 14 children killed at the weekend in a Taliban suicide attack.

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Two US soldiers and their interpreter were among about 20 people wounded in one of the attacks, a suicide car bombing in the small town of Charikar, 50 kilometres (30 miles) north of the capital Kabul, officials said.

There has been a suicide car bombing in Afghanistan every day since Friday. Such attacks are regularly used by Taliban and other radical Islamists who are waging an insurgency against the country's US-backed government.

A purported member of the Hezb-i-Islami faction of insurgent leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar claimed responsibility for the Charikar bombing, telling AFP by telephone that several US soldiers were killed.

But Sergeant First Class Joel Peavy told AFP, "We have two US soldiers and an Afghan contractor wounded."

Afghan health ministry spokesman Abdullah Fahim told AFP that two civilians were killed and 17 wounded. The interior ministry gave a similar toll and said the blast was carried out by a suicide attacker.

The bomb was detonated by remote control and its target was not clear, he said, adding that 19 people including a policeman were wounded.