2 Children Among 26 Dead In Afghan Suicide Attacks

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Sept. 10 -- Twin suicide bombings ripped through a market in southern Afghanistan at dusk Monday, killing 26 people and injuring more than 50, local officials said.

The coordinated attacks in the Gereshk district of Helmand province appeared to target police officers. But many civilians, including two children, were killed, according to district official Abdul Manaf.

Helmand, the world's largest poppy-growing region, has been the main battlefield this year for Western forces trying to beat back a revived Taliban insurgency.

The attacks Monday were among the deadliest suicide bombings in Afghanistan since a U.S.-led invasion toppled the extremist Islamic movement in late 2001.

The United Nations reported last week that the country is on course for a record number of suicide attacks in 2007, with 103 recorded by the end of August. There were 123 in all of 2006. Before late 2005, suicide attacks in Afghanistan were relatively rare.

Although Taliban attacks have generally targeted security forces -- both Afghan and international -- they have taken a heavy toll among civilians, the United Nations found. Of the more than 200 people killed in suicide attacks this year, 80 percent were civilians, it said.

Many of the Taliban's suicide bombers are poor young men or boys who are recruited in Pakistani religious schools.

Special correspondent Qudratullah Haidarzai in Kabul contributed to this report.