December 30, 2008	Tuesday	Muharram 01,1430

CHARIKAR (Afghanistan), Dec 29: Five people were killed and about 40 others wounded in two bomb blasts in Afghanistan on Monday, as a town mourned 14 children killed in a recent Taliban suicide attack.

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

There has been a suicide car bombing in Afghanistan every day since Friday.

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

But Sgt Joel Peavy said: “We have two US soldiers and an Afghan contractor wounded.”

Afghan health ministry spokesman Abdullah Fahim said that two civilians were killed and 17 wounded. The interior ministry gave a similar toll.

A second blast hit the southern town of Spin Boldak, on the border with Pakistan, killing a two-year-old and two adults, Kandahar province police chief Muttiullah Khan said.

The bomb was detonated by remote control and 19 people, including a policeman, were wounded.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for a powerful suicide car bombing in the Khost province on Sunday that the Nato military force said killed 14 children and two adults.

A Taliban statement claimed at least 20 US and Afghan ‘puppet’ troops were killed in the attack outside a government compound in the Ismail Khail district.

The Nato- and US-led military forces reported no casualties although government officials said one Afghan soldier was killed.

Eight of the children, aged around 10, were buried on Sunday, he said.—AFP