KABUL — Suicide bombers launched multiple attacks in a remote corner of southwestern Afghanistan near the Iranian border Tuesday, killing policemen and shoppers buying food to break their daily Ramadan fast. A market bombing in northern Afghanistan brought the overall toll to 46 in the deadliest day for civilians this year. There were no claims of responsibility, but the attacks on opposite ends of the country — the provinces of Nimroz in the southwest and Kunduz in the north — came as Taliban insurgents and their allies step up attacks while international troops hand over security responsibility to Afghan forces. NATO plans to withdraw most of its troops by the end of 2014. There have been relatively few insurgent attacks in Nimroz over the past year. Tuesday's bombings took place in the provincial capital, Zaranj, where three men wearing suicide vests detonated their explosives in different neighborhoods, provincial police chief Musa Rasouli said. At least 25 civilians and 11 police were killed, he said. Authorities said the casualties would have been far higher had they not learned of the plot beforehand. Police killed two would-be attackers Monday night and captured another three Tuesday morning. Three more militants attacked the governor's compound but were killed by security forces before they could detonate their suicide vests. One of the bombings took place at mid-afternoon outside a hospital near a busy market packed with shoppers buying sweets for the feast that marks the end of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month, this weekend. – AP
