At least 17 people were killed and two dozen others were injured on Tuesday in two separate bombings near the Afghan capital, Kabul, one targeting a NATO military base and the other hitting a bus carrying civilians, Afghan media reported, quoting police.
Seventeen passengers of the bus were killed and another four were wounded in a roadside bomb explosion near the town of Paghman, to the west of Kabul, General Mohammed Zahir, the Salam Watandarwas radio station quoted a top Kabul police official as saying.
The bomb went off early on Tuesday morning at a highway near the village of Haldari, a traditional holiday destination for Kabul residents, when the bus moved to the roadside to give way to a convoy of armored vehicles, the report said.
Police have arrested a militant who detonated the bomb using remote control. Afghan authorities blamed the attack on the Taliban.
In the Logar province, to the southeast of Kabul, a suicide bomber crashed an explosives-laden truck into the NATO base, media reports said.
The Pajhwok news agency quoted the provincial police chief as saying three NATO servicemen and 12 Afghans who were employed at the base had been injured in the attack which took place in provincial capital of Pul-i-Alam at around 10 am local time.
Salam Watandar earlier quoted police sources as saying some 30 civilians had been killed or injured in the blast.
The International Security Assistance Force press service confirmed the attack earlier on Tuesday, saying however that it received no reports of victims or injuries among NATO personnel.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack.
U.S. troops comprise the largest foreign military contingent in Logar province.
International troops are preparing to withdraw from Afghanistan by the end of 2014, handing over responsibility for security in Afghanistan to local police and military
