A suicide bomber killed a deputy provincial governor and at least five others in an attack in a mosque in southern Afghanistan today.
The attack, together with another suicide bombing in the capital Kabul earlier in the day, comes as two studies said Afghanistan risked reverting into a failed state and a haven for "terrorism" without new international efforts to win the war and bring economic development.
The deputy governor of Helmand province was among a congregation of men praying in a mosque in the provincial capital, Lashkar Gah, when the bomber struck.
"Five people including, Pir Mohammad, [the deputy governor] have been killed in this attack," Nisar Ahmad Barakzai, deputy head of the provincial public health department, said.
Provincial police chief Mohammad Hussein Andiwal said six people, including Mohammad, were killed and 18 worshippers wounded in the attack. The mosque is located opposite government offices in Lashkar Gah.
Earlier in the day, a suicide car bomber killed a civilian and wounded four others, including an army officer, in an attack aimed at an army bus in Kabul, officials said.
The Taliban carried out more than 140 suicide attacks last year. A spokesman for the group said a member of the conservative Islamist movement was behind the Kabul blast.
The two raids are part of rising violence in the past two years, the bloodiest period since US-led troops overthrew the Taliban's al Qaeda-backed government in 2001.
The increase in violence comes despite the presence of some 50,000 NATO-led troops in Afghanistan country.