More than 20 killed in separate Afghan blasts

By Sharaffuddin Sharafyar

HERAT, Afghanistan (Reuters) - A suicide bomber in southwestern Afghanistan killed 17 people on Friday, and an Afghan lawmaker escaped a separate blast on the outskirts of Kabul but five of his bodyguards were killed, officials said.

The provincial governor of southwestern Farah province, Rohul Amin, said a suicide bomber on a motorcycle detonated his explosives in a crowded area of Farah City, killing 17 people and wounding 29.

Farah Province Police Chief Faqir Mohammad Askar said the target of the attack was a senior police official, who was killed along with two of his bodyguards.

Taliban spokesman Qari Yousuf telephoned Reuters from an undisclosed location and denied his group had carried out the Farah raid.

"Whenever there are civilian casualties, the Taliban deny responsibility," said Amin. "This attack was definitely carried out by the Taliban."

In a separate incident, an Afghan parliamentarian and former mujahideen commander escaped a roadside bomb blast unhurt on the outskirts of Kabul on Friday, but five of his bodyguards were killed, said a police official who declined to be named.

Abdul Rasul Sayyaf, who heads an Islamic political party and was a prominent anti-Soviet fighter during the Soviet occupation, was driving in a convoy in Paghman just outside Kabul when the convoy was hit by a bomb placed under a bridge.

Violence in Afghanistan has reached its highest levels since the U.S.-led invasion in late 2001. While Taliban militants normally target foreign and Afghan security forces in their attempt to overthrow the government and drive international troops out of the country, most of the casualties are civilians.