Suicide blast kills 17 Afghan civilians

KABUL (Reuters) - A suicide bomber in a bazaar killed atleast 17 civilians, most of them children and four police onSunday in Afghanistan's southern province of Uruzgan, policesaid.

The bomber targeted a police vehicle in a bazaar in DehRawud district, the provincial police chief told Reuters.

"Seventeen civilians and four policemen died in the attack.Thirty seven more civilians and five police have been wounded,"Juma Khan Himat said by phone, adding the death toll couldrise.

Himat said most of the civilian victims were children.

He blamed Taliban insurgents for being behind the attack,part of a rising tide of violence in Afghanistan, where themilitants largely rely on such tactics as part of theircampaign against the foreign troops and the Afghan government.

The interior ministry in Kabul said a senior police officerand 24 civilians were killed in the attack.

The Taliban could not be immediately reached for comment.

Over 800 civilians have been killed in Afghanistan so farthis year, according to the United Nations and Afghanofficials.

Growing insecurity has added to the rising frustration ofmany Afghans nearly seven years since U.S.-led troops overthrewTaliban's government after it refused to hand over al Qaedaleaders who had masterminded September 11 attacks on America.

The violence comes despite the increasing presence offoreign forces currently numbering more than 70,000, and topTaliban as well as al Qaeda leaders are still at large.

It has prompted some Western politicians to warn recentlythat the country may slide back into anarchy.

Since 2006 when the Taliban regrouped, Afghan and foreigntroops have been locked in almost daily clashes with themilitants who have some sanctuary in the lawless tribal regionsof Pakistan.

In one of the latest such clashes, five Pakistani Talibanwere killed and 13 more wounded after they infiltrated a remotedistrict in northeastern Nuristan on Saturday, interiorministry spokesman Zemarai Bashari said.

The fighting was going on Sunday and locals were helpingthe police for defending the district, he said.

Separately on Sunday, a soldier from the U.S.-led force waskilled in a blast in the southern province of Helmand, the U.S.military said, while NATO said its soldiers and Afghan forceswere locked in heavy fighting against the insurgents in an areaof eastern Kunar.

There were casualties on both sides, the alliance said in astatement, without elaborating.

(Additional reporting by Hamid Shalizi; Writing by SayedSalahuddin; Editing by Valerie Lee)