At least 12 people, mostly policemen, have been killed in a suspected suicide bomb attack in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar, officials say. Eleven others are said to have been injured in the blast which took place outside the police headquarters. A spokesman for the ousted Taleban regime has claimed that the group carried out the attack, reports say. Last week, fierce fighting between troops and Taleban fighters left at least 25 dead in southern Afghanistan.
A local resident of the southern Afghan city told the BBC the whole area had shaken with the force of the explosion and then described seeing bodies lying on the ground outside the heavily-protected police base. The bomber apparently tried to drive into the complex on a motorcycle before setting off the explosion, reports say. A doctor at the hospital told the AFP news agency that 10 policemen were among those killed and five of the wounded were also policemen.
A spokesman for the Taleban, Qari Mohammad Yousuf, called up news agencies to say his group was behind the attack. "The Taleban did this suicide attack. We will pursue these kind of attacks against government or coalition forces," the Associated Press quotes him as saying. Correspondents say such violence, including suicide bombings, have become more and more common in southern Afghanistan.