Afghan remote bomb kills three

Afghan police say a remote-controlled bomb in a busy market has killed two policemen and one civilian in the country’s north west. The explosion went off as shoppers were hurrying to buy food to break the day’s fast for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Faryab provincial police chief Abdul Khaliq Asye said the explosives were detonated remotely and appeared to target police, who had stopped at the market in Ghormach district about 300 miles north west of Kabul, the capital.

The blast came after 6pm Friday, prime shopping hour for iftar, the meal marking the end of the daily fast.