A powerful car bomb killed at least eight people and wounded 47 in Afghanistan's western Herat province, officials said Saturday. Hours later, the U.N. condemned an “alarming” increase in attacks in the country targeting civilians.

The death toll has risen to at least 20 after a vehicle packed with explosives rammed into a popular restaurant in Somalia’s capital on Friday night, with 30 wounded, the government news agency reported Saturday.

A car bomb blast that rocked Afghanistan’s capital Sunday morning killed at least nine people, according to the Afghan Interior Ministry.

A truck bomb exploded at a busy security checkpoint in Somalia's capital Saturday morning, killing at least 79 people including many students, authorities said. It was the worst attack in Mogadishu since the devastating 2017 bombing that killed hundreds.

At least five Turkish soldiers were killed when a car bomb targeted their convoy in northern Syria near Turkey overnight, state news agency SANA reported earlier on Thursday.

Syrian opposition activists say a car bomb has killed at least 12 people in a northern town controlled by Turkey-backed opposition fighters.

Libya, Aug 11 (AP/UNB) — A bomb-laden vehicle exploded Saturday outside a shopping mall in Libya's eastern city of Benghazi, killing at least three U.N. staff members, a spokesman for the United Nations secretary-general said. The attack came even as the country's warring sides said they accepted a cease-fire proposed by the U.N. aimed at halting combat in the capital Tripoli during an upcoming Muslim holiday.

Kabul, Jul 7 (AP/UNB) — The Taliban carried out a devastating suicide car bombing in central Afghanistan Sunday that killed 12 people and wounded over 150 others, said Afghan officials.