Taliban attacks kill four, target Italians

HEART: Twin Taliban attacks killed four people and wounded 24 others, including children, in the Afghan city of Herat and at an Italian-led NATO reconstruction team on Monday, officials said.

An AFP reporter at the Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) in Herat said there had been a large explosion at the gate and there was a crater at the scene, with fragments of twisted metal from at least one car scattered around.

The reporter added that the attack appeared to be ongoing as he could hear gunfire.

"Four are martyred and 24 are injured," said Ghulam Sayed Rashid, Herat provincial health director.

"Among the wounded we have four children and a woman. The rest are men. There are two among them (the injured) who are in military uniform, they are guards of the PRT. Three of the injured are in critical condition," he added.

Farooq Kohistani, Herat's criminal investigation chief, had earlier put the death toll at two with 26 wounded.

"There was a suicide attack at the gate of Herat PRT and a second in the city centre," he said. Kohistani did not have details on whether the dead were foreign or Afghan, or what the target of the second blast was.

"There have been explosions inside the compound as well as outside the PRT."

Local television pictures showed extensive damage at the scene.

The area around the PRT, which is in a residential part of the city, had been cordoned off and both Afghan and international security forces were in the area, the AFP reporter said.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011