Blasts kill 16, hurt 23 in S Afghanistan
Kandahar, known as the spiritual homeland of the Taliban, came under a heavy attack early in May. (File photo)
Two bomb explosions in Afghanistan's southern Helmand province have killed at least 16 people and injured 23 others, mostly civilians, Press TV reports.
Twelve people, including ten civilians and two police officers, lost their lives while 23 others, 20 civilians and 3 police officers, were wounded after an explosive-laden motorcycle went off in Kajaki village on Wednesday afternoon, Helmand's provincial governor announced in a statement.
Meanwhile, Taliban spokesman Yousef Ahmadi has claimed that five foreign forces and 12 Afghan soldiers have been killed in the incident.
Elsewhere in Helmand's Nad Ali district, the local intelligence chief and three other people were killed in another Taliban bomb attack on Wednesday.
Despite the presence of tens of thousands of Western forces in Afghanistan, the United Nations and other observers say the violence has peaked and is now at its peak since US-led forces toppled the Taliban in late 2001.
A UN report on Afghanistan issued on September 28, 2011 said the average monthly number of security incidents recorded for the year through the end of August rose nearly 40 percent compared to the previous year.
The report also said civilian casualties, already at record levels in the first six months of the year, rose 5 percent between June and August 2011, compared with the same three-month period in 2010.
Around 130,000 Afghans were displaced by the conflict in the first seven months of 2011, up nearly two-thirds from the same period a year earlier.
ASH/AZ/GHN
