President Hamid Karzai, who was traveling in Saudi Arabia, strongly condemned the attacks in a statement that said, “The terrorists are so desperate and abject that they kill our innocent Muslims in the holy month of Ramadan.”

The attack in the small city of Zaranj was startling for the planning on the part of the insurgents, who carried out considerable damage despite being largely thwarted by the police. Eleven attackers appear to have converged on the city in the past several days, taking up positions in safe houses, police and provincial officials said.

The first inkling of trouble came on Monday night when police officers, acting on a tip, found two potential suicide bombers in a safe house with a large amount of explosives and weapons. They killed the two men, and on Tuesday they caught three more suspects in the plot and took them into custody. But just a few hours later, at 3 p.m., explosions began in multiple places, General Rasuli said.

The first two bombs, one near the governor’s office and the other targeting a police car, did little damage but “created panic in the town as people rushed toward the provincial hospital to see if any of their relatives had been hurt,” General Rasuli said.

As people gathered in front of the hospital, just across from a crowded market, another bomber struck, and that explosion caused the majority of the casualties, the general said. He added that three other bombers had been shot elsewhere in the city.