UN vehicle in Afghan bomb attack

A UN vehicle has reportedly hit a roadside bomb in Afghanistan killing five people.

While there has been no immediate claim of responsibility officials believe Taliban insurgents are likely to be behind the attack which happened in the southern province of Kandahar

"Four Nepalese and one Afghan have been killed," police chief Esmatullah Alizai said.

UN spokesman Adrian Edwards said: "There has been an incident in Kandahar in which a UN convoy was involved. We're checking, trying to confirm details."

In a separate incident, a blast in a school compound killed four students in the western city of Herat, officials and witnesses said.

Police in Herat, which is relatively peaceful compared with the insurgency-plagued south and east, blamed the Taliban.

Violence in Afghanistan surged last year to its worst level since 2001 with around 4,000 people killed.

Fighting eased over the winter, as it traditionally does in Afghanistan, but attacks have been picking up over recent weeks. On Monday, a suicide bomber killed nine police in the northeastern town of Kunduz.

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