Two Afghan soldiers were killed in two bomb attacks in southern Afghanistan, the defence ministry said Sunday.
"Two Afghan National Army soldiers were martyred in two improvised explosive device (IED) attacks in Panjwai district of southern Kandahar province and Gereshk district of neighbouring Helmand province," Xinhua quoted the ministry as saying in a statement.
Kandahar and Helmand are notorious for poppy growing and militancy.
Army specialists have defused 42 IEDs and roadside mines across the country since Saturday, the statement said.
Earlier Sunday, nine militants, two women and two children were killed when a truck bomb went off prematurely in a house in eastern Logar province, deputy provincial police chief Abdul Wali Tofan told Xinhua. The blast destroyed the building.
The Taliban have intensified subversive activities as the country prepared for its third presidential and provincial council general elections slated for April 5.