Two blasts kill six in Afghanistan's Kandahar

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Two blasts hours apart killed at least six people on Monday in Afghanistan's southern city of Kandahar, the birthplace of the Taliban whose fighters are being targeted in a renewed push by NATO-led troops.

Afghanistan's spy agency on Monday also banned media from covering Taliban attacks without its permission, saying such coverage only emboldened the Islamist militants.

NATO-led troops are trying to drive the Taliban out of their strongholds as part of a plan to hand control of the country to Afghan forces before a planned U.S. troop drawdown in July 2011.

In Monday's first blast, a suicide bomber blew up a car as International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) troops passed in convoy on a road several miles from Kandahar airport.

"Four civilians were killed and one wounded in the attack," said Mohammad Ibrahim, a doctor in a Kandahar hospital. Several soldiers were wounded.

The Taliban said in a statement the explosion killed at least 11 foreign soldiers but NATO said only one was killed.

A coalition helicopter evacuated the wounded, and a bridge close by was badly damaged, a Reuters journalist said.

The airport is a key base for a major offensive by ISAF and Afghan forces launched in neighbouring Helmand province two weeks ago to retake the town of Marjah and the surrounding district.

The Afghan civilians were killed after they pulled their car to the side of the road, a common act in rural areas to allow convoys of foreign forces to pass, witnesses said.

Hours later, a car packed with explosives blew up outside the main police station in Kandahar, the spiritual home of the Taliban in Afghanistan and next expected target of NATO troops.

The second Kandahar blast killed one police officer and wounded 16 people, including nine police, said Fazl Ahmad Sherzad, deputy police chief for Kandahar province.

A Reuters reporter at the scene saw at least six vehicles badly damaged. Shattered glass littered the area and several buildings nearby were destroyed.

MEDIA BAN

In the past week, the Taliban have carried out four big attacks killing at least 29 people and wounding scores more. An explosion at a busy bus stop near a government building in Helmand's capital, Lashkar Gah, killed 7 people and wounded 14.

On Friday, two suicide blasts and a two-hour shootout between Afghan forces and the Taliban rocked the capital Kabul, killing 16 people and wounding 37. Among those killed were Indian government employees and an Italian diplomat.

On Monday, the chief spokesman for Afghanistan's National Department of Security (NDS) summoned journalists to announce the agency's decision to ban media from covering such Taliban attacks across the country.

The ban includes live broadcasts even from a distance, spokesman Saeed Ansari said. Journalists will be allowed to cover the aftermath of the Taliban attacks only after NDS clearance, he said. Violators will have their equipment confiscated.

Taliban fighters have made a comeback, operating out of strongholds in the south into the east and north, and are resisting efforts by President Hamid Karzai's government to impose control.

(Additional reporting by Sayed Salahuddin in Kabul, Writing by Bryson Hull; Editing by Paul Tait)