Child among four wounded in Kabul bombings

The bombings happened as the Taliban attacked a military base, killing at least six soldiers

People and vehicle move past in a busy bazaar during a lockdown during Ramadan in Kabul. AP  

Four bombs exploded in northern Kabul on Monday, wounding four civilians including a child, Afghan officials said.

The roadside bombs were spaced within 10 to 20 metres of one another, said Kabul police spokesman Ferdaws Faramarz. The wounded child is a 12-year-old girl, he said, and added that the police were searching the area where the explosions happened.

There was no claim of responsibility for the bombings and their targets were unknown. Both the Taliban and ISIS are active in Kabul and its surroundings and both frequently target the military and civilians.

At least six Afghan soldiers were killed and five others wounded in a Taliban attack in Laghman province on Sunday night, the ministry of defence said. Local sources told media that the number could be as high as 22 soldiers. “Dozens of vehicles of security forces were damaged in the attack,” Gulzar Sangarwal Neyazi, a member of the provincial council, told Afghan’s Tolo news.

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Kabul has witnessed several small-scale attacks over the past seven days, including explosions from two hand grenades on Sunday night in western Kabul. There were no casualties in that attack, according to Tariq Arian, the spokesman for the Interior Ministry.

On Thursday, a rocket targeted a power station and two roadside bombs went off in separate areas of Kabul, also causing no casualties. No one has claimed responsibility for those attacks.

Meanwhile, an exchange of prisoners between the Afghan government and the Taliban has continued under a deal signed in February between the US and the Taliban. The deal stipulated that the government should free 5,000 Taliban prisoners, while the insurgents were to release 1,000 captives, an exchange that was expected to lead to intra-Afghan negotiations.

The exchange has taken place in stages and so far, and the government in Kabul said it has freed 1,000 Taliban prisoners. The insurgents have confirmed the release of 300 Taliban members.

The Taliban said they have freed 225 of their captives, including Afghan defence and security personnel members — a release not confirmed by the government,