Two die in suicide attack

A suicide bomber attacks a police station in south-western Afghanistan, killing two people.

A suicide bomber attacked a police station in southwestern Afghanistan early today, killing two people including a policeman, a provincial official said. The attack took place in Nimroz province, which borders volatile Helmand, as well as Iran and Pakistan. "At around 9.50am, a suicide attacker who had strapped explosives to his body detonated his charge in front of the first police station in Zaranj city," the provincial governor Ghulam Dastagir said.

"So far, one policeman and a civilian are dead," he said, adding that three policemen were also wounded in the attack. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack in Nimroz, where Taliban militants have been increasingly active in recent months. The insurgency, launched after the ousting of the Taliban regime in a US-led invasion in late 2001, has intensified over the past two years, despite the presence of about 70,000 international soldiers in the country.

*AFP