Suicide Attackers, Motorcycle Bomb Kill More than 45 in Afghanistan

Posted August 14th, 2012 at 1:00 pm (UTC-5)
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Suicide attackers and remote-controlled bomb have killed at least 45 people in Afghanistan.

Afghan authorities say 36 people died in coordinated suicide bombings Tuesday in the usually peaceful city of Zaranj, the capital of Nimroz province in southwestern Afghanistan.

More than 70 others were wounded. Officials say most of the casualties are civilians. Security forces are also among the dead.

Police say at least three suicide bombers carried out attacks in different parts of Zaranj, including a busy marketplace. Security forces detained three other attackers, and shot and killed five before they could detonate their explosives.

In a separate attack, police say a bomb planted on a motorcycle exploded in the northern Afghan province of Kunduz, killing at least nine people. More than 25 others were wounded in the blast near a crowded bazaar.

Tuesday's attack is one of the worst in Nimroz province this year.

Nimroz borders Iran and Pakistan and is usually peaceful, although it has seen a recent increase in violence. On Saturday, an Afghan police officer killed 11 colleagues in the Dilaram district of Nimroz.