KABUL, Nov 8: Roadside bombs and a suicide attacker killed 20 people in a spate of attacks across Afghanistan on Thursday, officials said.

The deaths came even as armed clashes between militants and Afghan security forces have decreased as the fighting season winds down with the advent of cooler weather in the mountainous nation.

In one of the attacks, 10 civilians, including a child, died as their vehicle struck a landmine in southern Helmand province. Seven other people in the group – which was heading to a wedding – were wounded in the blast, said Ismail Khan Hotak of the provincial security coordination centre.

A suicide bomber on a motorcycle blew himself up amid a police convoy in the southern city of Kandahar, killing three policemen and wounding two, said Ahmad Jawed Faisal, a spokesman for provincial governor.

And five troops died when their convoy hit a landmine in eastern Laghman province, according to Sarhadi Zewak, also a spokesman for governor. Also on Thursday, two boys were killed by a roadside bomb in Zabul province in southern Afghanistan.

Deputy provincial chief Ghulam Gilani Farahi said the device had probably been planted by militants targeting police officers patrolling the area.

Insurgents have been increasingly targeting Afghan authorities and security forces now that Nato is drawing down towards a final withdrawal of foreign combat troops in 2014.

Although the Afghan police and army have expanded rapidly to their planned strength of 352,000 members, they are plagued with low morale and a high desertion rate.

Meanwhile, the spate of so-called insider attacks by members of Afghan security forces against foreign troops and their own colleagues has undermined trust between international forces and the Afghan army and police.

Last month, the UN mission in Afghanistan urged the Taliban to end the use of roadside bombs, saying they were by far the biggest killer of civilians in the conflict.—AP