By Xinhua,
Kabul : A suicide blast targeted a police patrol Sunday evening in southern Afghan district of Musa Qala, killing four civilians and injuring five police and three civilians, an official said.
The blast happened around 7:20 p.m. local time at a busy market in Musa Qala of southern province Helmand, provincial police chief Mohammad Hussein Andiwal told Xinhua.
“A suicide attacker exploded himself near a police vehicle as a convoy of two police vehicles were patrolling,” he said.
He said among the three injured civilians, two were in serious conditions.
One police vehicle was also damaged in the blast.
Musa Qala, since being regained from Taliban militants during a major offensive last December, has seen a series of violent incidents over the months.
There has been no immediate responsibility claim but Taliban-led militants usually carry out such guerrilla-style attacks against Afghan government and foreign troops.
Six and half years on from Taliban regime collapse in 2001, Afghanistan has still been in the grip of spiraling violence. Insurgency-related fighting and bombings left 8,000 people dead in Afghanistan in 2007, a record high since 2001.