BBC News with Marion Marshall
At least 46 people have died in a series of suicide attacks in Afghanistan. The Afghan President, Hamid Karzai, has condemned the violence. Aleem Maqbool sent this report from Kabul.
It was in the western city of Zaranj in a market place packed with people shopping for this weekend's Eid celebrations. The police say at least three suicide bombers
detonated
their explosives. Eyewitnesses have given horrific accounts of the scenes of followed. Intelligence officials told us up to 14 potential bombers had planned to take part in the attack, but that some had been arrested. Then, in the northern province of Kunduz, another explosion – this time
ripping through
a main square close to a row of food
vendors
; several of them are among the dead.
The American Defense Secretary Leon Panetta says the United States doesn't think Israel has made a decision on whether to attack Iran over its nuclear program. Mr Panetta said the critical moment for military action hadn't been reached. From Washington, Mark Mardell.
Leon Panetta has just returned from a trip to the region including Israel, and he said he did not believe that Israel had made a decision to attack Iran. Not for the first time there are persistent rumors in Washington and Israel for the attack may be only months or weeks away – a
timetable
dictated not only by military possibilities, but by America's presidential election. Some believe before the election, President Obama would have to support such an Israeli attack, but if reelected, would have a freer hand – it's certainly not the decision he wants to make now.