Twin Taliban attacks killed four people and wounded 24 others including children in the Afghan city of Herat and at an Italian-led NATO reconstruction team today.

The blasts came just weeks before the usually peaceful historic city is to become one of the first places in the war-torn country to transition from NATO to Afghan security control nearly 10 years after the 2001 US-led invasion.

Italian press agency Ansa reported that 15 Italians had been injured, quoting parliamentary sources, but the Italian defence ministry could not confirm this when questioned by the news agency.

An AFP reporter at the Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) in Herat said there had been a large explosion at the gate and there was a crater at the scene, with fragments of twisted metal from at least one car scattered around.

The reporter added that the attack appeared to be ongoing as he could hear gunfire.

“Four are martyred and 24 are injured,” said Ghulam Sayed Rashid, Herat provincial health director.

“Among the wounded we have four children and a woman. The rest are men. There are two among them (the injured) who are in military uniform, they are guards of the PRT. Three of the injured are in critical condition,” he added.

Farooq Kohistani, Herat’s criminal investigation chief, had earlier put the death toll at two with 26 wounded.

“There was a suicide attack at the gate of Herat PRT and a second in the city centre,” he said.

Kohistani did not have details on whether the dead were foreign or Afghan, or what the target of the second blast was.

The attack was claimed by the Taliban.

Its spokesman Qari Yousuf Ahmadi told the news agency, “Our mujahedeen are working on the operation in Herat”