A woman was killed and five others were wounded in an IED blast in Mazar-e-Sharif city, the center of Balkh province on Saturday evening, health officials confirmed.  

Balkh police spokesman Adil Shah Adil confirmed the explosion and said it happened near Sina Stadium in Mazar-e-Sharif city when a convoy of Afghan security forces was passing through the area.  

“Three of the wounded are in critical condition,” said Ghausuddin Anwari, the head of Abu Ali Sina Balkhi hospital in Balkh. 

This comes hours after at least two security force members were killed in separate blasts in the northern province of Balkh and the eastern province of Paktika on Saturday, local officials said. 

Paktika police spokesman Adil Shah Adil said that one security force member was killed and eight others were wounded in a suicide bombing in Dedadi district of the northern province of Balkh on Saturday morning. 

The target of the attack was Mohammad Hashim, an NDS commander, who sustained injuries in the blast, Adil said. 

The blast at around 10:30 am local time in Golaee Khasa village of Dehdadi district and targeted the convoy of the commander, Adil added. 

This comes hours after an attack by unknown armed men in Gardez city in which Ayub Gharwal, the deputy head of Paktia Provincial Council, was killed. 

Meanwhile, Col. Asif Tokhi, security officer of Paktika police headquarters, was killed in an explosion in Yayakhil district of the province, Paktika governor’s spokesman Mohammadullah Amini said, adding that the district recently witnessed clashes between government forces and the Taliban. 

Violence remains high in Afghanistan amid the peace negotiations in Doha that started last week. 

EU special envoy Roland Kobia on Friday said that UN figures show violence in Afghanistan in the last five weeks has been the highest in the last five years. 

He added that the Taliban must now show capacity to act politically, not as insurgents using arms to twist arms.