Scores of Afghans wounded in attacks

THREE people, including two police officers, were wounded in a suicide attack in Afghanistan yesterday while 21 other civilians were wounded in a separate attack.

Zia Durani, spokesman for the police chief in southern Kandahar province, said that the suicide car bomber targeted a police checkpoint in the Daman district.

Elsewhere, 16 civilians were wounded after a bomb hidden near an electricity station exploded in eastern Kunar province, said Gen Abdul Habib Sayedkhaili, the provincial police chief.

Meanwhile five civilians were wounded after a bomb attached to a motorbike exploded in Aibak, the capital of northern Samangan province, said Sediq Azizi, spokesman for the governor.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks.

In another report from eastern Paktia province, five police officers were killed on Saturday afternoon when their vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb in the Zurmat district, said General Mohammad Zaman Khosti, deputy provincial police chief.

The officers were on their way from Zurmat toward Gardez, the provincial capital, in a private vehicle when were attack.ed

Taliban insurgents have stepped up their attacks on Afghan soldiers and police in recent months, using roadside bomb attacks and suicide attacks. Afghan security forces are now solely in charge of the public safety across the country after US and NATO forces formally ended their combat mission at the end of last year.

Separately, hundreds of people, including government officials, gathered in the capital Kabul yesterday to mark the fourth anniversary of the assassination of former president