KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - Afghan officials say two separate roadside bombings in southern Afghanistan have killed four people, including a district police chief.

A spokesman for the provincial governor in southern Uruzgan province, Mr Abdullah Himmat, says a bomb killed the police chief of the Chora district and two of his bodyguards while they were on patrol early on Thursday.

Mr Ummar Zawaq, a spokesman for the governor of Helmand, says a roadside bomb killed a civilian and wounded two others in the Marjah district, also on Thursday.

Violence has been escalating around Afghanistan in recent weeks as the spring fighting season has started. Insurgent attacks usually drop off during the country's harsh winter weather.