Suicide bombers killed at least nineteen people in attacks across Afghanistan on Tuesday, including 11 Afghan police, as insurgents ramped up violence ahead of the traditional summer fighting months. Two bombers, including one wearing a head-to-toe covering burqa, blew up a car laden with explosives on the airport road outside the western city of Herat, killing eight civilians and three police, provincial governor spokesman Mohiddin Noori said.
Twenty-three people were wounded in the attack, which took place in a usually peaceful part of the country near the border with Iran. In volatile southern Helmand province, three suicide attackers targeted the district governor's office in Musa Qala district, killing eight police. Two of the bombers were shot dead, but one managed to detonate explosives.
"The first one opened fire on Afghan police. In response he was killed by our forces, while the second one detonated himself and police killed the third," said Dawood Ahmadi, spokesman for the Helmand provincial governor. A Nato spokesman on Monday said insurgents had so far shown no sign of planning a repeat of last year's unified spring offensive against foreign and Afghan forces, preferring isolated attacks on small units and bases. The Afghan Taliban claimed responsibility for the Helmand attack, saying it had been targeting the district governor and police chief, as well as other government officials.