Suicide bomber kills 13 in attack on Afghan police

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - A suicide bomber killed 13 people and wounded 13 others today when he set off explosives outside the police headquarters in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar, a government spokesman said.

The Taleban claimed responsibility for the attack and said many more suicide bombers were waiting to strike.

"Thirteen people were killed and 13 wounded. Seven of the dead are police," an Interior Ministry official said. Some of the wounded were in a critical condition, officials said.

The bomber detonated his explosives during a search as he tried to enter the police compound on his motorcycle, said Interior Ministry spokesman Yousuf Stanizai.

Also today, a roadside bomb blast killed a Turk, an Indian and their Afghan driver in the western province of Farah, the provincial governor said. The men were working on a road construction project, he said.

In a separate incident, a bomb hidden on a bicycle exploded in the town of Spin Boldak, which is near the Pakistani border in Kandahar province, wounding three civilians, police said.

Dozens of people have been killed in a wave of attacks, including 14 suicide blasts, in Afghanistan in recent months.

A Canadian diplomat was among three people killed in a suicide bomb in Kandahar on Jan. 15.

The day after, a suicide bomber on a motorcycle drove into a crowd in Spin Boldak and detonated explosives, killing 23 people.

The US-backed government blames the attacks on Taleban and al Qaeda militants, who are fighting to expel US and other foreign forces, and says they are getting help from abroad.

Afghan officials have long accused neighbouring Pakistan of not doing enough to stop militants grouping and plotting attacks from the Pakistani side of the border. Pakistan rejects the accusations.

President Hamid Karzai condemned the blast and said he would be raising security in talks with Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf during a visit there this month. He said terrorism hurt both countries.

The surge in violence comes as Nato prepares to expand its Afghan peacekeeping operation into the volatile south. The 9,000-strong force now operates in the relatively secure north and west, as well as in the capital, Kabul.

The United States heads a separate international force of about 21,000, made up mostly of US troops, fighting insurgents and hunting their leaders in the south and east.

The United States is hoping to cut up to 3,000 troops as Nato peacekeepers take on responsibilities in the south.

US military and government officials say the Taleban are resorting to suicide bombers, a tactic which mirrors Iraq, after suffering heavy losses in their guerrilla campaign last summer.

In the biggest battle in months, 16 Taleban and six policemen were killed last Friday in Helmand province, also in the troubled south.

Taleban commander Mullah Dadullah said many people wanted to be suicide bombers.

"More and more people are joining us to be suicide bombers," Dadullah told Reuters by satellite telephone from an undisclosed location.

"The suicide bombings will continue against coalition forces and their agents. This is part of our military strategy."

- REUTERS