Two bombs, one of them hidden under a dead body, exploded near the southern Afghan city of Kandahar and killed four people, police said yesterday.

Police blamed Taliban fighters for the blasts, which occurred Sunday.

The bomb under the body killed a policeman and a villager in the Panjwayi district west of Kandahar city, senior police officer Mohammad Omar said.

"When a police officer along with a civilian villager came to remove the body, it exploded and killed both," he said. "It was the work of the Taliban."

He could not say whose corpse was used to hide the bomb but villagers said it could have been that of a man killed by the Taliban in recent days for alleged spying.

The rebels have killed dozens of people, including children, on similar charges.