The carnage in Afghanistan continued unabated on a major Muslim holiday yesterday, as attackers killed two pairs of brothers with links to the government and three Nato service members.

The targeted killings are part of a spate of similar attacks on those associated with the government, further complicating efforts by international forces to hand over security responsibility to Afghans as foreign combat troops withdraw.

In the first attack, a bomb hidden in a cemetery in the southern province of Helmand killed a police chief and his brother who were visiting a family grave for the Eid al-Fitr holiday.

Seven of the men’s relatives were wounded in the early-morning blast in the provincial capital of Lashkar Gah, said Helmand deputy police chief Ghulam Rabbani.

No one immediately claimed responsibility, but the attack was consistent with the Taliban’s strategy to target authorities and others who align themselves with the government or international forces.

The two men were brothers of an MP for Helmand province, Abdulwadood Popal, who was not at the cemetery at the time of the blast.

The family was visiting the grave after morning prayers for the holiday, which ends the month-long Ramadan fasting period.

Then in Farah province in the west, gunmen on a motorcycle opened fire on the car of an intelligence service official as he was driving home from a family visit, killing him and his brother who worked for the customs service.

Meanwhile in the east, Nato forces said that three international service members were killed in a bomb attack, without providing further details.

At least 41 international troops have been killed so far this month in Afghanistan.