Afghanistan: String of attacks kills at least 20
Afghanistan police and officials investigate the site of a suicide attack in Kabul on Sept. 18, 2012. A suicide bomber blew himself up alongside a minivan carrying foreigners on a major highway leading to the international airport in the Afghan capital, police said, killing at least 10 people, including nine foreigners.
Officials reported a string of attacks in Afghanistan on Thursday that killed at least 20 people, according to the Associated Press.
A roadside bomb in southern Helmand province killed 10 civilians, including women and children, traveling in a minibus. The bus was headed to a wedding party, the BBC reports.
Reuters reported two more attacks. In Laghman province a roadside bomb killed five soldiers, and in Kandahar city a motorbike suicide bomber exploded near a police station, killing three policemen and wounding four.
As of yet, no group has claimed responsibility for the attacks. However, a Helmand governor spokesman blamed the Taliban.
Many have noted the increase of insurgent attacks as the United States 2014 withdrawal date approaches.
The Afghanistan army has about 352,000 members, though, as the AP reports, morale is low and the desertion rate high.
Al Jazeera reports from Nolay, Afghanistan, where the Afghan National Army is now leading the battle against the insurgency:
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