Suicide bombers kill over 20 in Afghanistan

KABUL / QUETTA

Pakistani Shiite Muslim men mourn the killing of their relatives at a hospital in Quetta, following an attack by gunmen. Separately over 19 people die in Afghanistan. AFP photo

Two suicide blasts killed at least 18 people, including eight policewomen, across Afghanistan yesterday, while gunmen killed six Shiite Muslims in neighboring Pakistan.

A suicide blast blew up a four-wheel-drive vehicle during rush hour yesterday outside a government office in Herat province in western Afghanistan, killing at least 10 people and wounding more than 20, authorities said.

Two men and a woman wearing a burqa were found dead inside the vehicle that exploded at the gate of a district headquarters building as people were waiting to go inside to see government officials about various business matters. Initial reports had said only one suicide bomber was inside the vehicle and officials could not say which of the three occupants detonated the explosives, the Associated Press reported. In a separate incident, eight policemen were killed when three suicide bombers stormed a police compound in Afghanistan’s southern province of Helmand yesterday, a spokesman said, according to Agence France-Presse.

Two of the bombers set off explosives strapped to their bodies and a third was shot dead by police guarding the Musa Qala police offices in the troubled province.

Sectarian attack

Meanwhile, gunmen on a motorcycle opened fire on Shiite Muslims in southwest Pakistan on April 9, killing six in an apparent sectarian attack, police said. Three other Shiites were wounded in the attack on a shoe store in Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province, said police officer Hamid Shakil. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.