国际英语新闻：Militancy claims over 24 lives including 5 NATO soldiers in Afghanistan

"The bomb planted on a motorbike and exploded by remote control in a bazaar in Kandahar city the capital of Kandahar province at 02:50 p.m. local time today. As a result, one civilian was martyred," deputy provincial police chief Fazal Ahmad Khan Shirzad told Xinhua.

Two civilian cars parked in the bazaar were also destroyed in the blast, he further said.

Also on the same day Saturday, a suicide car bomb targeted NATO- led troops' convoy in Ismail Khil district of Khost province in east Afghanistan, a local official said.

The official who declined to be identified told Xinhua that a suicide bomber driving a car packed with explosive devices blew himself up near a NATO-led forces' military convoy at around 8 a.m. local time.

Meantime, a Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid in talks with media via telephone from unknown location claimed of responsibility, stressing huge casualties were inflicted to the multinational force.

In a related development in Khost's neighboring Paktia province, unknown armed men opened fire on Saturday leaving 13 people all civilians dead, spokesman for provincial administration Rohullah Samoon said.