Three suicide bombers killed at least 28 people and wounded more than 70 yesterday when they blew themselves up outside a hospital and within a busy city market in southwest Afghanistan.
The attack was one of the most deadly in the troubled country this year, and the worst in the normally peaceful Nimroz province since 2001. It comes during a surge in fighting ahead of a withdrawal by most western combat troops and handover to Afghan forces to be completed by the end of 2014.
Eighteen civilians including several children and at least three members of the Afghan security forces were among the dead in the town of Zaranj, the capital of Nimroz province next to the border with Iran.
The toll is expected to rise, provincial governor Abdul Karim Barahawi said. “The attackers blew themselves up in crowded markets to target civilians. There was no government installation nearby.”
One bomber detonated his explosive vest in front of Nimroz hospital, while two others blew themselves up in the city market, killing mostly civilians.
The markets had been packed with people buying supplies to end their daily Ramadan fast, police said. – (Reuters)