PESHAWAR, Pakistan – A bomb blew up a pickup truck on a dirt road in eastern Afghanistan (search), killing four people, and two Afghan soldiers were killed in a land mine explosion in the country's south, officials said Sunday.
Officials blamed fighters of the Al Qaeda (search) terrorist network and the ousted Taliban (search) regime in the attacks, though there was no immediate claim of responsibility.
The explosion in eastern Kunar province on Friday came two days after the Taliban allegedly distributed pamphlets in the province warning Afghans against working with the post-Taliban U.S.-backed government of President Hamid Karzai (search), said Irshad Khan, an official in the 9th Afghan military brigade based in Asadabad, the provincial capital.
The blast killed the driver of the vehicle, his brother, the brother's son and the daughter of another brother, Khan said, speaking by satellite telephone from Asadabad. The five wounded were in serious condition and were moved to a U.S. military hospital in Bagram, north of the national capital, Kabul, Khan said.
The pickup truck was traveling from Pashat village to Asadabad, about 9 miles to the west.
"Taliban and al-Qaida are not new in Kunar. They have carried out many explosions here. This one was also carried out by them," Khan said.
In Helmand province on Friday, two Afghan military intelligence agents were killed and three others were wounded when their pickup truck hit a land mine 25 miles south of the provincial capital of Lashkargah, said provincial government spokesman Mohammed Wali Khan.
"Taliban are carrying out terrorist operations in Helmand and other provinces of Afghanistan," said Khan, who is no relation of the official in Kunar.
Afghan officials often blame insurgents from the two groups for attacks targeting government troops, aid workers and U.S.-led coalition forces in Afghanistan.
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