The Taliban carried out two attacks in Afghanistan overnight, killing at least ten people, officials said on Friday. In the western province of Herat, the militants attacked security posts, leaving nine soldiers and a police officer dead. The attack occurred in Herats Shindand district, said the districts governor, Shukrullah Shaker. Four people were wounded, he said. Shaker, said a roadside mine and a rocket hit a car carrying police reinforcements sent to the scene, killing the police commander. There were also fatalities among the Taliban attackers, he stated, but it was not clear how many. He blamed the Taliban for the attack although no group immediately claimed responsibility for it. In Gardez, the capital of the eastern Paktia province, the Taliban attacked several police posts, leaving at least three policemen dead, said Gul Agha Roohani, the provinces police chief. Fighting in Afghanistan traditionally increases in the spring when warmer weather melts snow blocking mountain passes, increasing the mobility of the insurgents. A UN report showed on Thursday that ordinary Afghans are increasingly in the crosshairs of militants, with the number of civilians killed or wounded in attacks deliberately targeting them more than doubling in the first quarter. The total number of civilian casualties in the January-March period reached 2,258 -- almost unchanged from the same period in the past two years, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan said. That included 763 deaths and 1,495 injuries, marking a bloody start to the year. But the number of civilian casualties from attacks by the Taliban and other militants "deliberately targeting" ordinary Afghans more than doubled -- accounting for 39 percent of all casualties. Suicide blasts and militant attacks were the leading cause of civilian casualties at 751, more than double from the same period last year, the report showed, as militants ramp up indiscriminate assaults in urban areas. If the trend were to continue for the rest of the year, the figure could top last years record-setting 2,295 casualties in suicide bombings and attacks. Ground engagements between militants and security forces accounted for 30 percent of civilian casualties in the January to March period. Anti-government elements also continued to direct attacks against the minority Shiite community, with 154 of its members killed or wounded, "nearly all from suicide and complex attacks" claimed by ISIS, the report said. As the Taliban faces growing pressure to take up President Ashraf Ghanis offer of peace talks, the UN called on "all parties" to do more to protect civilians. "Afghan civilians continue to suffer, caught in the conflict, in ways that are preventable; this must stop now," said Ingrid Hayden, the UN secretary-generals deputy special representative for Afghanistan.