11 dead as blasts mar Afghan New Year

"Such bombings are a hallmark of the insurgency led by the Taliban"

Four bomb blasts struck Afghanistan yesterday, killing 11 people and wounding several more as the country marked the first day of its New Year amid a spike in deadly insurgent attacks.

The extremist Taliban militia claimed responsibility for the deadliest blast, in which six people were killed when a suicide bomber blew up a minivan packed with explosives at a police checkpost in eastern Nangarhar province.

A policeman and five civilians were killed, President Hamid Karzai said in a statement condemning the blast.

"Enemies of Afghanistan, by conducting this terrorist action on a day that Afghans celebrate New Year in peace, showed that they don't have any aim except to destroy Afghanistan," he said.

The attacker had apparently wanted to enter the bustling city of Jalalabad to carry out the attack but was stopped at a checkpost set up as part of increased security measures for the New Year, local officials said.

Hours later, a remote-controlled bomb blew up in nearby Khost province among hundreds of men gathered around a small hilltop shrine for picnics to mark the start of the New Year in Afghanistan, which uses the solar calendar.

Two people were killed and four wounded in that attack, provincial police chief Abdul Qayoom Bakizoi told AFP.

The bomb, planted in a road, blew up as a four-by-four vehicle drove over it, he said. The attack took place near a shrine about seven kilometres southeast of the city of Khost, where men had gathered in dispersed groups, perhaps accounting for the low casualty toll.

Witnesses said it appeared to have been a suicide blast, with at least one body torn apart. There was no claim of responsibility.

Two bombs planted in roads also exploded in the southern province of Kandahar, a Taliban stronghold that sees regular attacks, a government official said.

One, apparently targeting the Afghan army, killed a civilian passer-by, said provincial government spokesman Zalmai Ayoobi.

The other bomb hit a civilian vehicle, killing two people and wounding three others, he said.

Such bombings are a hallmark of the insurgency led by the Taliban, who were in government here between 1996 and 2001.

They came after a series of clashes and attacks on Friday that left about 60 people dead, in one of the bloodiest days for Afghanistan this year.

Four Canadian soldiers and an Afghan interpreter were killed in two bombings in Kandahar on Friday, the Canadian military said.