3 children killed, 23 people hurt in Afghanistan

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KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - Two explosions minutes apart rocked a provincial capital in southern Afghanistan on Sunday, killing a child and wounding at least 19 other people.

The young girl was killed and at least 14 other people were wounded in the first blast in front of a bank in southern Lashkar Gah city, said Daud Ahmadi, spokesman for the governor in Helmand province.

Five people, including an Afghan soldier, were injured in the second explosion near a high school, he said.

"Once again, the militants targeted civilians," Ahmadi said.

In eastern Afghanistan, a rocket fired by insurgents early Sunday struck a house killing two children and injuring three men and a woman, the Afghan Ministry of Interior said in a statement. An airport in Behsud district of Nangarhar province was the apparent target of the rocket attack, the ministry said.

On Saturday in a different area of Nangarhar, fighting broke out between militants and Afghan forces.

Ahmad Zia Abdulzai, a spokesman for the provincial governor of Nangarhar, said 10 militants were killed and eight others wounded in the 30-minute clash in Sherzad district. One Afghan policeman also was wounded in the fighting, he said.

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Khan reported from Kandahar. Associated Press writer Rahim Faiez in Kabul also contributed to this report.