At least five people have been killed and several wounded after two explosions hit the town of Khost in eastern Afghanistan, local police say.

The first blast, which occurred in a shop in the town's busy market, killed two people, police reported.

The second explosion, this time the work of a suicide bomber, killed two people and injured two police.

Khost, which is near the border with Pakistan and an area of Taleban activity, has seen frequent violence.

Rise in violence

Khost province borders the Pakistani tribally-administered area of North Waziristan, where a peace deal signed with militants and tribal elders last year saw the Pakistani army pull out.

US forces say the deal has led to an increase in violence on the Afghan side of the border.

Bloodshed in Afghanistan last year returned to levels not seen since the fall of the Taleban in 2001, with the southern provinces of Helmand and Kandahar, and Khost and other areas in the east of the country particularly hard-hit.

Analysts say the bombings are the Taleban's response to being squeezed by the build-up of foreign troops in the south and east and they are very difficult to prevent.

Some 4,000 people are believed to have died in 2006 in the insurgency - about a quarter of them civilians.

And experts are now predicting an increase in fighting with the end of winter.

PHOTO CAPTION

A policeman checks on his wounded comrade after a suicide bomb blast in the eastern city of Khost April 14, 2007. (Reuters)

BBC