[17/March/2005] KANDAHAR,(Saba) - Two bomb blasts ripped through the southern Afghan city of Kandahar killing five people and injuring 31 hours after
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived in the country, officials said Thursday.

A bomb blast hit a taxi carrying four women and two children and injured others sitting in a nearby restaurant in the downtown Ahazrat Jibaba area of the city, said deputy provincial police chief Gen. Salim Khan.

Kabul, some 290 miles northeast of Kandahar, has not seen any major militant incident since last October.

TD