Two blasts targeted minivans carrying civilians in two areas in the west of Kabul on Saturday afternoon, the Ministry of Interior Affairs said.
One of the blasts occurred in the Dasht-e-Barchi area in Kabul’s District 13 and another happened after less than 30 minutes near Ali Jinnah Hospital in Kabul’s District 6.
Violence has been rising as foreign forces withdraw from the country by Sept. 11 and efforts to broker a peace settlement between the Afghan government and insurgent Taliban have slowed.
It was not immediately clear who was behind Saturday’s attacks.
The ministry said that five people were killed in the two blasts and that the casualties may rise. The blasts are similar to two explosions that happened in Kabul earlier this month, killing at least a dozen people, all civilians.
However, as the violence intensifies, following heavy clashes there are more areas in different provices that fall to Taliban.
Salman Yusufi, the district governor for Tolak in Ghor, said that at least 20 security force members were killed and 20 more were wounded in the clashes in the district.
He said that at least 10 security force members have been captured by the Taliban.
Yusufi did not confirm the fall of the district to the Taliban but criticized the lack of attention by relevant officials to supply equipment to the forces on the ground.
Local officials have not commented on the report.
This comes as the Defense Ministry said that civilian and military institutions in Zare district in the northern province of Balkh were shifted to another place on Saturday due to limited access to the district for supplying equipment to security forces.
Taliban has claimed to have captured the Zare district on Saturday morning.
In addition to the mentioned districts, so far, sources and officials have confirmed that the centers of at least 17 districts have fallen to militants over the last two months. According to two MPs, the centers of Ishkamish district in Takhar and Sozma Qala district in Sar-e-Pul fell to the Taliban on Thursday.
The centers of Burka district in Baghlan, Narkh, and Jalrez districts in Maidan Wardak, Dawlat Shah district in Laghman, Qaisar district in Faryab, Shahrak district in Ghor, and Shirzad district in Uruzgan have fallen to the Taliban in less than two months.
The Taliban claims they have also captured Charkh district in Logar, Do Ab, and Mandol districts in Nuristan, Farsi district in Herat, Deh Yak district in Ghazni, Gezab district in Daikundi, and Shinkai district in Zabul.
