KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - A police official says as many as 14 suicide bombers were involved in attacks Tuesday that killed at least 27 people in relatively peaceful southwestern Afghanistan.
   
The deputy police chief of Nimroz province says not all the bombers detonated their explosives. Police captured or killed several of them. Abdul Majid Latifa says at least 14 attackers with explosives were involved.
   
Another official put the number of bombers at 11.
   
The head of the Nimroz provincial health department, Noor Ahmad Shirzada, says 110 people were wounded in Tuesday's attacks in different parts of the city of Zaranj.
   
Taliban insurgents and their allies have been ratcheting up attacks as international troops hand over security to Afghan forces. NATO plans to withdraw most of its troops by the end of 2014.

(Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

Earlier story:

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - An Afghan official says three suicide bombers have killed at least 20 people in a city in the country's southwest.
   
The triple bombing in Nimroz province also wounded at least 48 people. Governor Abdul Karim Barawi says the bombers struck in the provincial capital of Zaranj on Tuesday afternoon. He says one suicide attacker detonated his explosives belt in the heart of the city. Police then opened fire at the other two bombers, accidentally setting off their explosives.
   
The governor says the attacks came a day after local authorities rounded up several suspects in the area.
   
Nimroz is a relatively peaceful province but it has seen an increase in violence recently. On Saturday, an Afghan policeman killed 11 of his fellow officers in the province's remote Dilaram district.

(Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)