By Sharafuddin Sharafyar
HERAT, Afghanistan (Reuters) - A suicide bomber disguisedin a burqa detonated a blast in a bazaar in western Afghanistanon Thursday, killing 18 police and civilians, in the bloodiestsuicide attack in weeks, officials said.
Twenty-two people were wounded in the blast, which happenednear a police station in the Del Aram district of Farahprovince. The policemen were inspecting vehicles on the roadoutside at the time.
"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 the all-enveloping burqa robe that Afghan womencommonly wear.
President Hamid Karzai who has been leading Afghanistansince Taliban's removal, condemned the attack and said it was"obscene" that the bomber had used a burqa a disguise.
"The enemies of Afghanistan, by misusing the women's veil,put on display their unmanhood," a palace statement quoted himas saying.
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 and was not wearing aburqa.
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.
Two police vehicles were destroyed in Thursday's attack,the latest in rising violence in Afghanistan in the past twoyears, the bloodiest period since the Taliban were driven frompower in 2001.
Six of those killed were police, including a seniorofficer, another provincial official said, adding the rest ofthe dead were civilians.
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 violence since 2006,despite the presence of more than 55,000 foreign troops led byNATO and the U.S. military and nearly 150,000 Afghan securityforces.
(Writing by Sayed Salahuddin; Editing by Sanjeev Miglaniand Alex Richardson)
