Suicide bombing in Afghanistan kills 17, wounds 47

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
A suicide bomber targeting a former police chief blew himself up at a busy market in southern Afghanistan Monday, killing 17 people and wounding 47 in an attack claimed by the Taliban. All the dead were civilian men, said Ghulam Muheddin, the provincial governor's spokesman. There were 15 children among the 47 wounded, he said. It was the second major suicide attack to exact civilian casualties this month in southern Afghanistan, where insurgents are battling NATO-led troops and Afghan forces trying to extend the weak control of the government of President Hamid Karzai.