RAMADAN NO DETERRENT
* The Kabul blasts were followed by a motorcycle bomb in a crowded market in Keshim district of Badakhshan
* The district governor of Keshim, where the attack took place, gave a higher toll of at least ten killed and 30 wounded.
* The blasts in Kabul are the first in the capital since the start of the holy fasting month of Ramadan
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A busload of Nepali security guards were among 23 people killed in a string of bombings across Afghanistan Monday, days after Washington expanded the US military's authority to strike the insurgents.
The Taliban claimed the first attack which killed 14 Nepali security guards working for the Canadian Embassy in Kabul in a massive blast that left their yellow mini bus spattered with blood.
The insurgents also claimed a second, smaller blast in south Kabul targeting a local politician that the interior ministry said killed one person and injured five others, including the politician.
The Kabul blasts were followed just hours later by an attack on a market in the remote northeastern province of Badakhshan that authorities said killed at least eight people and wounded 18, with the death toll set to rise.
The wave of violence comes ten days after Washington announced an expansion of the US military's authority to conduct air strikes against the Taliban, a significant boost for Afghan forces who have limited close air-support capacities.
Police said the attack on the Nepali guards was carried out by a suicide bomber on foot shortly before 6:00 am (0130 GMT) on a main road leading east out of the capital towards the city of Jalalabad.
"As a result 14 foreigners were killed, all Nepali nationals," the interior ministry said in a statement, adding that nine other people were wounded, including five Nepali citizens and four Afghans.
