KABUL/KANDAHAR: Roadside bombs in Afghanistan killed at least 10 people Saturday, authorities said. The deadliest attack happened in southern Kandahar province when a bomb struck a civilian car, killing civilians including five women, they said.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for that blast, But Panjwayi district police chief Sultan Mohammad blamed the Taleban for the incident.

“They were traveling from Pajwai district to Kandahar city to visit a doctor and do some shopping for the upcoming Eid Al-Fitr (Muslim holiday),” said Dawa Khan Minapal, a spokesman for provincial governor.

“But their vehicle was targeted by a roadside bomb freshly planted by the Taleban and this tragedy happened.” He added: “Their dead bodies are still in the area and police have already transferred two wounded children from the incident to a provincial hospital.”

The incident took place days after the Taleban ordered their men to avoid targeting civilians.

“We have to be very careful when planting roadside bombs targeting the enemy and we have to consider ordinary lives,” a Taleban statement said on July 4.

In a similar incident in the eastern city of Jalalabad two people were killed when a remote control bomb went off. The target was an army vehicle but it escaped unharmed, said Abdul Zia Abdulzai, a spokesman for the provincial governor.

The Taleban have intensified their spring offensive in a bid to undermine the Western-backed government as foreign combat troops prepare to withdraw from the country by the end of the year. The attacks also come as US Secretary of State John Kerry visited Afghanistan in hopes of diffusing a crisis over the runoff presidential election to find a successor for outgoing President Hamid Karzai.

The UN said this week that the Afghan war was inflicting an increasingly devastating toll on civilians, with the number of casualties rising by almost a quarter in the first half of this year.