KABUL: A series of blasts in Kabul on Saturday killed atleast19peopleatafuneral for one of the victims of clashes between police and protesters a day before.

The latest explosions continued a wave of violence in the Afghan capital since a devastating truck bomb on Wednesday.

Saturday`s blasts shattered an uneasy calm which had descended after authorities blocked the streets of Kabul in a bid to prevent a repeat of the bloody confrontation between protesters and police on Friday.

The violence, fuelled by public anger over the inability of President Ashraf Ghani`s divided government to ensure security in Kabul, has exacerbated political tensions between rival f actions, and Mr Ghani issued a call for unity.

`The country is under attack,` he said in a message on Twitter. `We must be strong and united.

Kabul`s Italian-run Emergency Hospital, which has treated a stream of wounded over the past few days, said 19 people had been reported killed and 16 wounded had been brought to the hospital. The interior ministry, however, said there were six dead and 87 wounded.

Government Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah was at the funeral but was unharmed, while survivors said a series of explosions had ripped through the crowd, most of whom appeared to be linked to Mr Abdullah`s mainly Tajik Jamiat-i-Islami party.

`There were sounds of explosions everywhere and I saw my hands and face were on fire,` said Mohammad Azim, who was being treated for burns at the Emergency Hospital.

`There were parts of human bodies everywhere.

Saturday`s blasts occurred at the funeral of the son of the deputy Senate speaker, Mohammad Alam Izadyar, an ethnic Tajik ally of Mr Abdullah.

He died after being seriously injured in clashes during Friday`s protest.

Rahmatullah Begana, who was at the funeral, said the first explosion occurred as the muezzin made the first call to prayer and as people scattered, it was followed by another.

`I saw a lot of people lying on the ground,` he said.

As anger against the government has grown, Mr Ghani`s international partners have become increasingly alarmed, with the United Nations calling for restraint and the US embassy in Kabul warning against letting protests be taken over.-Reuters