A series of explosions has rocked the Afghan capital of Kabul, killing at least three people as a wave of violence continues to sweep across the war-torn country.
According to police on February 2, two people were killed when a vehicle in Kabul exploded, including Mohammad Atif, the head of non-governmental charity Jamiat-i-Islah.
Two other vehicles also exploded in other parts of the city, injuring several people.
Police said so-called "sticky bombs" where magnets are used to attach the explosive device to the vehicle were used in the attacks, which Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said "had nothing to do with us."
A soldier was killed in a separate attack on a vehicle in the eastern city of Jalalabad, while a senior security official was targeted in a blast in the central Parwan Province.
Despite the denial by the Taliban of involvement in the February 2 blasts, a U.S. watchdog issued a report three days earlier saying that Taliban attacks in Kabul are rising with government officials, activists, and journalists increasingly the target.
The report comes as the Biden administration plans to take a new look at the peace agreement between the United States and the Taliban signed last February under former President Donald Trump.
“Enemy attacks in Kabul were higher than during the previous quarter," the report quoted U.S. forces in Afghanistan. “They were much higher than in the same quarter last year.”
The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, known as SIGAR, monitors the billions of dollars the U.S. spends in war-ravaged Afghanistan.
Across Afghanistan, Taliban attacks during the last quarter of 2020 were slightly lower than in the previous quarter, but higher than the same period in 2019, according to the report, which was released on January 30.