Two Afghanistan soldiers wounded in latest explosion

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- Two Afghan soldiers were wounded by a bomb Thursday just yards from the spot where a double blast killed 15 children earlier this week, officials said.

The bomb exploded on the roof of a building at the edge of a sprawling military compound in eastern Kandahar where the men were on guard duty.

One of the soldiers had to have his leg amputated. The other was only slightly injured.

Violence has overshadowed Sunday's ratification of a new Afghan constitution that is supposed to act as a bulwark against terrorism and underlined the lack of security that threatens plans for national elections.

On Tuesday, 12 Hazara men were killed on a road in southern Helmand province Tuesday in an apparent act of ethnic violence.

"This comes at a time when we are taking some positive steps toward reconstruction," President Hamid Karzai said in a statement condemning the shootings. "The enemies of our country are trying to show that security is not good enough."

Interior Minister Ali Ahmad Jalali said there had been ethnic tensions in the area, where most of the population are Pashtuns.

"Maybe it is the work of terrorists trying to create problems among the different ethnic groups," he said.

Thursday's blast in Kandahar occurred about 300 feet from the spot where a bomb concealed in an apple cart Tuesday tore through a group of children.

The injured soldiers' commanding officer, Faiz Mohammed, blamed Taliban militants.

Another bomb was defused in Kandahar on Wednesday evening, deputy police chief Salim Khan said. It was found hidden under straw near a downtown bus station, he said.

Police said they arrested six people Thursday and that they had confessed to planting the bomb at the bus station. Documents found in their possession indicated they had links to the Taliban, Khan said.

In the eastern city of Jalalabad, Afghan and American officials attended a ceremony establishing a so-called provincial reconstruction team of U.S. troops, the eighth of its kind dotted around the country, the U.S. Embassy said. The new teams are part of an effort to stem violence ahead of the elections.

The 11,000 troops in Afghanistan have spent two years battling Taliban holdouts and their al-Qaida allies.

The new teams include engineers supposed to rebuild schools and clinics in lawless areas. But the military says they will also focus on providing security needed for civilian aid workers to return.

Areas around Mazar-e-Sharif in the north and Gardez in the east appear calmer since the teams, typically including about 100 soldiers, were installed there.

Security concerns have slowed voter registration in Afghanistan, making June elections unlikely, a U.N. spokesman said Thursday. Afghanistan has 10 million eligible voters, but only about 275,000 have registered so far, U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard said.