Afghan suicide bombing kills two

Two people have been killed and another 20 wounded, including two US soldiers, in a suicide car bomb attack in northern Afghanistan, officials say.

The bomb exploded in the town of Charikar, outside the offices of the Parwan provincial governor, 50km (30 miles) north of the capital, Kabul.

The two people killed were Afghan civilians, the officials said.

The bombing comes amid rising violence, with Taleban rebels stepping up attacks on Afghan and foreign troops.

Separately, at least two people, including a child, were killed by remote-controlled blasts in the town of Spin Boldak in the southern province of Kandahar.

Reinforcements

A unit of US troops from the Bagram base near Kabul was meeting the provincial governor at the time of the blast in Charikar.

A US military spokesman said two US soldiers outside the compound were among those injured.

Parwan province has been relatively free of insurgent violence but correspondents say attacks closer to and inside Kabul are becoming more frequent.

The attack came a day after 14 Afghan schoolchildren died when an explosives-laden lorry detonated outside a government building in south-eastern Khost province.

The US plans to send between 20,000 and 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan over the next six months to counter the rising violence.