Roundup: Afghan Taliban militans rely more on suicide bombing to challenge government

Afghan Taliban militants are increasingly relying on deadly suicide bombing to challenge the government as Saturday witnessed two such attacks in one day in an increasing trend.

At least four people were killed and seven others injured in these separate attacks in southern and eastern Afghanistan.

Afghan observers believe that the Taliban militants, who have speeded up fighting against government forces, would increase suicide bombings as lethal weapons to inflict more casualties.

As a result they could defame the government for failing to check insurgency.

On Saturday afternoon, such a bombing rocked the relatively peaceful Jalalabad city, about 120 km east of national capital Kabul, killing two people and injuring four others.

A terrorist who tied explosive device to his body blew himself up next to a vehicle of an Afghan army, killing one person and injuring four others, all of them are civilians.

The attacker himself was also killed in the blast, an official said.

Earlier on the day, a similar suicide attack in Qalat city, capital of the restive Zabul province, left two people including the attacker dead and injured three others, all civilians, police confirmed.

"A suicide bombing rocked Qalat city at around 01:45 p.m. local time today killing two people including the attacker and a civilian on the spot and injured three more civilians," Deputy Zabul provincial police chief Jilani Khan told Xinhua.

Although Taliban militants have yet to claim responsibility, officials blame them for these attacks.

It has always been civilians who bear the brunt of war in conflict-stricken Afghanistan.

More than 1,600 civilians had been killed and at least 3,560 injured in the first half of this year in different parts of the country, according to a report released by the UN mission in Afghanistan in late July.

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