Five people were killed and nearly 40 wounded in two bomb blasts in Afghanistan Dec. 29. Two US soldiers and their interpreter were among about 20 people wounded in a suicide car bombing in the small town of Charikar, 50 kilometers north of Kabul. There has been a suicide car bombing in Afghanistan every day since Dec. 26. A purported member of the Hezb-i-Islami faction of insurgent leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar claimed responsibility for the Charikar bombing, claiming by telephone to AFP that several US soldiers were killed. A second, remote-controlled blast hit the southern town of Spin Boldak, on the border with Pakistan, killing a two-year-old and two adults, and leaving 19 injured.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for a suicide car bombing in the eastern province of Khost the previous day that killed 14 children and two adults. A Taliban statement claimed at least 20 US and Afghan "puppet" troops were killed in the attack outside the Ismail Khail district government compound. The children had come to their school near the compound to collect books for the next year, the principal of the Sarban school told AFP. Thirteen wounded children are hospitalized in critical condition. (AFP, Dec. 29)

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