Bomb kills at least 8 in northeast Afghanistan: officials

This is the second major blast to shake Afghanistan today

At least eight people were killed and 18 injured this morning when a motorcycle bomb exploded in a crowded market in Afghanistan's northeastern Badakhshan province, local authorities said.

"Our initial information is eight people were martyred, and 18 others were wounded, all the victims are civilians," the Badakhshan provincial governor's spokesman Naweed Froutan told AFP, adding that the death toll is set to rise.

The district governor of Keshim, where the attack took place, gave a higher toll of at least ten killed and 30 wounded.

"It was a motorcycle bomb explosion inside a main market in Keshim district of Badakhshan province," Abdul Salam Paiman told AFP, adding that some of the wounded were in critical condition and all had been taken to hospital.

No one has yet claimed responsibility for the blast in the remote, mountainous province.

It was the second major attack to shake Afghanistan today. The Taliban claimed responsibility for an earlier suicide blast in the capital Kabul that killed at least 14 Nepali security guards.

The attacks come just days after Washington expanded the US military's authority to carry out airstrikes on the insurgents.