3 children killed, at least 23 people wounded after 2 bombings, rocket attack in Afghanistan

3 children killed, 23 people hurt in Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan — Two explosions minutes apart rocked a provincial capital in southern Afghanistan on Sunday, killing a child and wounding at least 19 other people.

The young girl was killed and at least 14 other people were wounded in the first blast in front of a bank in southern Lashkar Gah city, said Daud Ahmadi, spokesman for the governor in Helmand province.

Five people, including an Afghan soldier, were injured in the second explosion near a high school, he said.

“Once again, the militants targeted civilians,” Ahmadi said.

In eastern Afghanistan, a rocket fired by insurgents early Sunday struck a house killing two children and injuring three men and a woman, the Afghan Ministry of Interior said in a statement. An airport in Behsud district of Nangarhar province was the apparent target of the rocket attack, the ministry said.

On Saturday in a different area of Nangarhar, fighting broke out between militants and Afghan forces.

Ahmad Zia Abdulzai, a spokesman for the provincial governor of Nangarhar, said 10 militants were killed and eight others wounded in the 30-minute clash in Sherzad district. One Afghan policeman also was wounded in the fighting, he said.

Khan reported from Kandahar. Associated Press writer Rahim Faiez in Kabul also contributed to this report.