Two university students were killed and one wounded in Afghanistan's capital on Wednesday when a bomb they were making — apparently in preparation for a terrorist attack — exploded by accident, police said.

The incident occurred at one of the students' home in western Kabul, said deputy police chief Khalil Aminzada.

The wounded student was reportedly in a coma at one of the city's hospitals, Aminzada said. No arrests were made.

Anti-government insurgents have been stepping up attacks in recent months, particularly in the south and east of the country. Authorities say insurgents have also infiltrated the capital to carry out terrorist attacks.

In July, another suspected terrorist was killed when a homemade bomb he was planting in a dirt road exploded by accident nine miles east of Kabul.

Sporadic bombings in Kabul in the past have been blamed on a mix of Taliban rebels, al-Qaida fighters and supporters of renegade warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. A suicide bombing in eastern Kabul in June killed four German peacekeepers and wounded 29 others.

On Monday, NATO took command of the 5,000-strong peacekeeping force that patrols Kabul's streets.

In a separate incident on Wednesday morning, two laborers helping to rebuild a ruined house in southern Kabul were wounded when they set off a mine that was left over from years of war, said Ghulam Ghawis, a police official in the area.

The mine, hidden at the base of a wall made of hardened mud, exploded when the workers tried to collapse the wall, Ghawis said.

Much of Afghanistan is littered with the debris of war. Unexploded ordnance and mines kill or maim more than 120 people every month.

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