Bombings kill 18 in Afghanistan

HEART: Bombers on Friday killed 18 people in Afghanistan, a deadly start to President Hamid Karzai's second term in office that underscored spiraling insecurity nine years into the US-led war.

A suicide bomber on a motorcycle struck the capital of the southwestern province of Farah, killing 15 people, while a roadside bomb killed three civilians in the east.

The suicide bomber attacked near the home of Farah's provincial governor, damaging nearby buildings in an area where heavy trucks were being loaded with goods bound for Herat, officials said.

"Fifteen people have been killed," the governor said, updating an earlier toll of 12. Apart from a police officer, the dead were civilians, Amin added.

About 34 other people, mostly civilians, were wounded, officials said. More than a dozen of the wounded were in "critical condition," meaning the death toll could rise further, the governor said.