2 blasts, clash in Afghanistan kill 5

Five including two Afghan soldiers and three militants have been killed in blasts and a clash in Afghanistan's eastern Laghman province since Wednesday night, the provincial government said on Thursday.
In the latest incident, two Afghan soldiers were killed and two others injured as a bomb blast targeted a military vehicle in Qarghayi district, Laghman province on Thursday morning, spokesman for provincial government Sarhadi Zawak said.
"A bomb targeted a military vehicle in Qarghayi district at 09: 00 a.m. local time today leaving two soldiers dead and injured two others," Zawak told reporters.
In a separate incident happened in the neighboring Alingar district in a span of hour, two militants had been killed as their explosive device exploded prematurely, said a statement released by the Laghman provincial government.
"Two armed militants were busy in planting mine on a road in Alingar district Thursday morning to target security personnel, but the device went off prematurely killing both on the spot," the statement added.
Moreover, a militant had been killed and another injured as clash erupted in the neighboring Alishing district of the province Wednesday night, the statement said.
Taliban outfit and associated anti-government militants have speeded up activities amid the withdrawal of NATO-led troops from Afghanistan.
The NATO-led forces combat mission ends by Dec. 31, 2014 and Afghan national security forces assume the security charge of their country from January 1 next year.