Two civilians were killed and seven were injured after a suicide bomber targeted the diplomatic area in Afghanistan’s Kabul on Saturday, AP reported. The Islamic State group has reportedly claimed responsibility for the attack.

At least 18 soldiers were killed in another attack on a checkpoint in West Afghanistan’s Farah province. In a separate incident, three security personnel were killed in two suicide blasts in Helmand province, an official said.

Taliban spokesperson Qari Yusouf Ahmadi claimed responsibility for the Helmand and Farah attacks.

The toll from the Kabul attack may rise, Interior Ministry spokesperson Najib Danish said. The blast site was near the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation headquarters in the country.

Taliban insurgents attacked the checkpoint in Farah province, Defence Ministry spokesperson Dawlat Waziri said. Two soldiers were injured in the attack.

Soldiers shot down one of the Helmand suicide bombers, but the explosive in his car detonated at the entrance of the Nad Aali district Army base before they could diffuse it, provincial governor’s spokesperson Omar Zwak said. Two people were wounded in the attack.

One security official succumbed to injuries sustained in the second suicide bomb attack at another military base in Helmand’s Lashkar Gah city. Seven civilians were injured in the attack, Zwak said.

Spate of attacks

There has been a spate of attacks in Afghanistan. At least five Afghan National Army soldiers were killed and 10 wounded in an attack at a military academy in Kabul on January 29. A suicide bombing in Kabul claimed 103 lives and left 235 people injured two days before the attack on the military academy. On January 20, Taliban militants had killed 22 people in a hotel in Kabul.