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Deadly blasts rock Afghanistan
01:41 - Source: CNN

Story highlights

The Taliban claim responsibility in a phone message to media

Both attacks were on government facilities, authorities say

Many of the dead were police officers, officials say

Fourteen people were killed in Herat province attack, four in Helmand province

Kabul, Afghanistan CNN  — 

The Taliban claimed responsibility Tuesday for two suicide attacks on government facilities in Afghanistan that killed at least 18 people and wounded 27 others.

Many of the dead were police officers.

The first attack took place outside the police district administrator’s office in the Guzara district of western Herat province when three suicide bombers in an SUV tried to enter the compound, according to Saeed Agha Saqib, the provincial police chief.

The bombers detonated their explosives when security forces wouldn’t let them through.

The blast killed 14 people, including three police officers, and wounded 22 others, Saqib said.

In southern Helmand province, a trio of suicide bombers attacked the office of the police chief of Musa Qala district, according to Dawood Ahmadi, a spokesman for Helmand’s governor.

Two of the bombers were able to blow themselves up. The third was killed by police.

That attack killed four police officers and wounded five people, including the police chief, Ahmadi said.

The Taliban said they were responsible for both attacks through a phone message to the media.

CNN’s Mitra Mobasherat contributed to this report.