Blasts in western Kabul kill at least 5 - officials

[June 12, 2021]    KABUL (Reuters) - Two blasts rocked western Kabul on Saturday, killing at least five people, according to Afghanistan's Ministry of Interior.

The blasts took place in a neighbourhood dominated by the minority Hazara community where attacks on buses earlier this month killed 12 civilians.

Violence has been rising as foreign forces withdraw from the country by Sept. 11 and efforts to broker a peace settlement between the Afghan government and insurgent Taliban have slowed.

Eid Wali, the head of Ali Jenah Hospital in Kabul said the facility was treating six people injured in the blasts.

It was not immediately clear who was behind Saturday's attacks.

The Hazara community has also been the target of a number of attacks from the Islamic State militant group. In May an unclaimed attack on a school in the area left around 80, mostly school girls, dead.

(Reporting by Kabul bureau; Editing by Toby Chopra)

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