A roadside bomb on Saturday killed nine civilians including women and children when it struck the vehicle they were travelling in eastern Afghanistan.

The civilians were driving into Khost city, capital of Khost province, when the blast hit their van, deputy provincial police chief Mohammad Yaqoub Mandozai said.

“Three women, four children and two men were killed by the roadside bomb explosion. They were all civilians,” Mandozai said.

He blamed the attack on “enemies of Afghanistan” a term often used to refer to Taliban militants who have waged a bloody insurgency against Afghan and foreign forces in Afghanistan.

Home made bombs, or Improvised Explosive Devices, are the weapon of choice for the Taliban insurgents and the main cause of casualties among Afghan and foreign forces.

The insurgents also use suicide bombings and rocket attacks.

Three rockets were fired into the heart of Kabul today morning, with one landing close to the presidential palace, interior ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary said.

However, the attack came before the start of the rush hour when the city was almost empty and caused no casualties.

One rocket landed near the river that runs near the presidential compound and other ministries, and two others hit a mixed residential and market area.

The rockets were launched from the eastern edge of the city, Bashary said blaming “enemies of Afghanistan”.

Meanwhile, Afghanistan’s NDS spy agency announced it had arrested three suicide bombers from southern and eastern Afghanistan including one Pakistani national, who were planning attacks in Afghanistan.

Taliban suicide bombers attacked a bank and two shopping centers in Kabul last month.

Five suicide attackers targeted a bank in the eastern city of Jalalabad last Sunday killing around 40 people and wounding another 70.

Lutfullah Mashal, spokesman for National Directorate of Security (NDS), said it had captured the main organiser of the Jalalabad bank attack and a facilitator in Kabul who was hosting suicide attackers.