Afghanistan holiday marred by killings

The targeted killings are part of a spate of similar attacks on those associated with the government, complicating efforts by international forces to hand over security responsibility to Afghans.

In the first attack, a bomb hidden in a cemetery in the southern province of Helmand killed a police chief and his brother who were visiting a family grave for the Eid al-Fitr holiday.

Seven of the men’s family members were wounded in the early-morning blast in the provincial capital of Lashkar Gah, said Helmand deputy police chief Ghulam Rabbani.

No one immediately claimed responsibility.

The two men were brothers of an MP for Helmand province, Abdulwadood Popal. The family was visiting the grave after morning prayers for the holiday, which ends the month-long Ramadan fasting period.

In Farah province in the west, gunmen on a motorcycle opened fire on the car of an intelligence service official as he was driving home from a family visit, killing him and his brother who worked for the customs service.

In the east, Nato forces said that three international service members were killed in a bomb attack, without providing further details.