Suicide bombings have killed 173 people in Afghanistan this year, NATO announced Wednesday amid a sharp escalation of Taliban violence that saw 16 militants slain in southern clashes and an aid worker gunned down in the west. A suicide attacker was the sole victim of a bombing inside a Sunni Muslim mosque in the city of Kandahar, while militants fired two rockets into the eastern city of Jalalabad ahead of a visit by President Hamid Karzai and Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz. Police said there were no casualties. Full Story