Suicide blast kills 18 Afghan police and civilians
HERAT, Afghanistan (Reuters) - A suicide blast killed 18police and civilians on Thursday in Afghanistan's westernprovince of Farah, officials said.
The incident occurred in a bazaar near a police station inDel Aram district of Farah, they said, adding 15 more werewounded.
"So far, 18 people, including police and civilians, havebeen killed," Farah's governor Rohul Amin told Reuters byphone.
Citing officials near the site, Amin said the bomber waswearing an all-enveloping burqa robe that Afghan women commonlywear.
"I know that 18 people have been killed, but do not knowwhether the bomber was a man or woman or was wearing burqa ornot," said Juman Khan, a police officer from Del Aram.
He said two police vehicles were destroyed in the attack,the latest in rising violence in Afghanistan in the past twoyears, the bloodiest period since the Taliban were driven frompower in 2001.
A Taliban spokesman, Qari Mohammad Yousuf, told Reuters theattack was carried out by a member of the group, which isleading an insurgency against the government and foreigntroops. He said the bomber was a man.
The al Qaeda-backed Taliban largely rely on suicide attacksand roadside blasts in their campaign.
The militants are most active in southern and eastern areasnear the border with Pakistan, but have also carried outattacks in several major cities, including the capital Kabul.
U.S.-led forces overthrew the Taliban's radical Islamicgovernment after its leadership refused to hand over al Qaedachief Osama bin Laden, the architect of the September 11attacks on the United States.
More than 12,000 people have died in fighting and attacksby the militants since 2006, despite the presence of more than55,000 foreign troops led by NATO and the U.S. military.
Some Western politicians have recently warned thatAfghanistan could slide back into anarchy. Key al Qaeda andTaliban leaders are at large and frustration is high among manyordinary Afghans about insecurity, the slow pace of developmentand rebuilding as well as endemic corruption.
(Writing by Sayed Salahuddin; Editing by David Fogarty)