Bombers strike on Afghan new year

The latest attacks come amid a surge in violence

Two bombings in eastern Afghanistan have left at least eight people dead, officials say.

In one attack in Nangarhar province a suicide bomber blew up a vehicle at a checkpoint, killing five civilians and one policeman.

In the other, a bombing near a shrine in the eastern Afghan city of Khost killed at least two people among a crowd celebrating the Persian new year.

The attacks marked a second day of escalating violence in Afghanistan.

In condemning the Nangarhar bombing, President Hamid Karzai called it a "terrorist action on a day that Afghans celebrate new year in peace".

Canadians killed

The attacks are part of an upsurge that continues to claim more lives in Afghanistan, both civilian and military.

A major review of policy is under way in Washington, where US President Barack Obama has approved the deployment of a further 17,000 military personnel.

But few expect there to be any immediate improvement, the BBC's Ian Pannell reports from the capital, Kabul.

Many, including senior Nato commanders, are warning that there will be a further increase in violence this year, he says.

A series of attacks and clashes on Friday included two blasts in the southern Kandahar province that left four Canadian soldiers dead and eight wounded.

An Afghan interpreter was also killed in one of the attacks, and a second Afghan national was injured.

The Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said later that a fifth soldier had been killed in the south of the country, without giving the soldier's nationality.

Canada has about 2,500 troops based in the south of Afghanistan as part of Nato's mission to fight the Taleban.

Earlier on Friday, the US military said American and Afghan forces had killed more than 30 militants in Helmand and Logar provinces.