At least 18 killed in Afghan bomb attacks: officials

At least 18 people, including 10 civilians, were killed in three attacks in Afghanistan's south and east on Thursday, provincial officials said, the highest death toll in a single day since a spate of killings over the Eid festival last month.        

A roadside bomb killed 10 civilians who were driving to a wedding in the Musa Qala district of Helmand province, Helmand police chief's spokesman Farhid Ahmad Farhang said.               

Another roadside bomb killed five soldiers in the Badpakh area of Laghman, a province in the east, said Sarhadi Zwak, a spokesman for the provincial governor.                

In the third attack, a suicide bomber on a motorbike detonated his explosives at a police station in Kandahar city, killing three policemen and wounding four, local officials said.                 

Violence has been increasing across the country as the deadline of end-2014 looms for most foreign combat troops to exit Afghanistan, leaving the 350,000-strong Afghan security forces in control.


REUTERS