Five UAE officials among 56 killed in Afghanistan bombings

Five UAE officials were among 56 people killed in a string of bombings across Afghan cities, authorities said on Wednesday, as Taliban militants step up a deadly winter campaign of violence.

The Emiratis were among 13 people killed when explosives hidden in a sofa detonated inside the governor's compound in southern Kandahar on Tuesday, while the UAE's ambassador to Afghanistan escaped the attack with injuries.

The five were killed on Tuesday while engaged in humanitarian, educational and development work, state news agency WAM reported, adding President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahyan had ordered flags flown at half mast for three days in mourning.

Just hours before, twin Taliban blasts in Kabul tore through employees exiting a parliament annexe, which houses the offices of lawmakers, killing at least 36 people and wounding 80 others.

Earlier on Tuesday, a Taliban suicide bomber also killed seven people in Lashkar Gah, the capital of volatile Helmand province, as the militants ramp up nationwide attacks despite the onset of winter, when fighting usually wanes.

The carnage underscores growing insecurity in Afghanistan, where US-backed forces are struggling to combat a resilient Taliban insurgency as well as Al-Qaeda and Islamic State militants.

Kandahar's governor Humayun Azizi and UAE envoy Juma Mohammed Abdullah Al Kaabi were wounded by flames from the explosion, but many others were burned beyond recognition, provincial police chief Abdul Raziq, who was at the scene when the blast occurred, said.

"This incident will in no way affect the relations and cooperation between Afghanistan and UAE," President Ashraf Ghani said, ordering an investigation into the bombing.

The Taliban denied responsibility for the Kandahar attack, but they said they were behind the Kabul blasts.

In the first explosion, a suicide bomber blew himself up next to a minibus transporting government employees. As rescuers reached the scene, a car bomb exploded.

Among the 36 dead were four policemen who were killed in the second explosion when they rushed to help the victims of the first blast.

Health ministry spokesman Waheed Majroh warned that the toll was expected to rise as many of the wounded were battling for their lives in hospital.