KABUL: Some 20 civilians were killed by airstrikes and a suicide bombing in Afghanistan, officials said Tuesday.
The deadly attacks, the latest in a spell of rising violence in the country, come days ahead of the Muslim religious festival Eid Al-Adha.
It is as yet unclear whether the airstrikes were carried out by the US-led coalition or the Afghan military.
They hit Shindand district of Herat province overnight, officials said. Children and at least two women were among the victims.
The strikes were carried out by drones targeting a command center of Taliban insurgents, at least 16 of whom were killed, said provincial officials.
A Herat lawmaker said the civilian death toll could be much higher, but had no further details.
Graphic images of victims’ severed bodies have circulated on social media. The Afghan government and US-led coalition have not commented on the raids, which usually draw public anger and have occurred repeatedly in the past 16 years.
“These types of repeated mistakes will stir more anti-government anger,” Zia Ulhaq Amarkhail, a politician and former CEO of the election commission, said in a statement. “This will not help to win hearts and minds of the Afghans.”
Meanwhile, a suicide blast hit a branch of Nawe Kabul Bank on a busy road near government offices and the US Embassy.
The bomber was trying to enter the bank to cause as many casualties as possible, a police source said, adding that the bomber was identified and shot dead, but managed to detonate the explosives attached to his body. Five people were killed and eight wounded, the Interior Ministry said.
The blast comes days after an attack by Daesh affiliates on a Shiite mosque in Kabul that claimed nearly 30 lives. Daesh has carried out a series of deadly attacks against Shiites in Afghanistan recently.
Analysts say the radical group is trying to fan sectarian violence in a country wracked by decades of war.