Afghan officials probe attacks as death toll rises

Afghan security officials beganinvestigating Tuesday's attacks in the capital Kabul and thesouthern city of Kandahar as the death toll climbed to at least50.

The Ministry of Public Health raised the death toll from theKabul attack to 37, with 98 wounded, while 13 people wereconfirmed dead in Kandahar. One security official said the deathtoll from the Kabul incident alone could reach as high as between 45 and 50with more than 100 wounded.

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The violence highlights the precarious security situation inAfghanistan, which has seen a steady increase in attacks sinceinternational troops ended combat operations in 2014, withrecord numbers of civilian casualties.

Many of the Kabul victims were workers in parliamentaryoffices who were returning home in the afternoon rush hour orfirst responders hit when they were attending victims of aninitial blast.

The Taliban, seeking to reimpose Islamic law after their2001 ouster, claimed responsibility for the attack, which theysaid targeted a minibus carrying personnel from the NationalDirectorate for Security, Afghanistan's main intelligenceagency.

But they denied responsibility for the attack in Kandaharwhich killed mainly government officials or diplomats from theUnited Arab Emirates who were visiting the city to open anorphanage.

Hidden under sofas

President Ashraf Ghani's National security adviser, HanifAtmar, travelled to Kandahar on Wednesday to launch an investigation. Five Emirati officials as well as the deputygovernor of Kandahar, Abdul Shamsi, and a number of other seniorofficials were among the dead.

No claim of responsibility has been made for the attack, setoff by a bomb hidden under sofas in the residence of theprovincial governor.

However Kandahar police chief Abdul Razeq, a fearedcommander who was in the compound when the explosion occurredbut who escaped injury, accused Pakistan's intelligence servicesand the Haqqani network, a militant group linked to the Taliban.

He said workers may have smuggled in the explosives used inthe attack during construction work and said a number of peoplehad been held for questioning.

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The United Nations condemned the "unprincipled, unlawful anddeplorable attacks" which it said would make peace moredifficult to achieve.

"Those responsible for these attacks must be heldaccountable," said Pernille Kardel, the UNsecretary-general's deputy special representative for Afghanistan.

On the same day as the two attacks, seven people were killedin a Taliban attack on a security unit in the southern provinceof Helmand.