Five police officers and two civilians killed after car bomb blast at police headquarters, with at least 19 people wounded
A car bomb has exploded at the police headquarters in Kandahar, southern Afghanistan, killing at least seven people.
The blast went off in a car park, according to Faisal Ahmad, a spokesman for the provincial government. Five police officers and two civilians were killed, and least 19 people were wounded, he said.
The explosion was large enough to shatter the windows of nearby buildings. It appeared the bomb was in a parked vehicle and remotely detonated, said Zalmai Ayubi, another government spokesman. No one has yet claimed responsibility.
Although the international military coalition in Afghanistan has poured resources into Kandahar and surrounding areas as part of a push to take back insurgent strongholds, the area has remained dangerous and there have been repeated attacks against government installations.
The UN reported on Saturday that 2011 was the deadliest on record for civilians in the Afghan war, with 3,021 killed as insurgents ratcheted up violence with suicide attacks and roadside bombs. Civilian deaths from military or other pro-government forces decreased slightly.
A spokesman for the Taliban, Zabiullah Mujahid, said on Sunday the report was "biased" and accused the UN of falsifying the figures.
The commander of US and Nato forces in Afghanistan, John Allen, said the report reflected the effort the international coalition has put into decreasing civilian casualties. He added that international forces would "continue to do all we can to reduce casualties that affect the Afghan civilian population".
Meanwhile, police in northern Afghanistan said an American soldier shot and killed an Afghan guard at a US base, apparently because the American thought the guard was about to attack him.
There have been a growing number of attacks by Afghan soldiers against international forces in Afghanistan in recent years, some the result of arguments and others by insurgent infiltrators. Last month, an Afghan soldier shot and killed four unarmed French troops at a base in eastern Afghanistan.
Friday's shooting in Sari Pul province, northern Afghanistan, resulted from an unfortunate misunderstanding, said Sayed Jahangir, the deputy police chief for the province.
Afghans guard the outside perimeter of the base and Americans guard inside. Jahangir said that the Afghan guard – a man named Abdul Rahim – wanted to go into the base and started arguing with the American at the door. Rahim did not raise his weapon, but the American thought he was about to do so and fired, Jahangir said.
"Our initial reports show that the American thought he was acting in self-defence," Jahangir said. Rahim was a private guard, not an Afghan soldier or policeman, Jahangir said.
US military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Jimmie Cummings said US forces were "aware of an incident in northern Afghanistan" and were investigating, but did not give further details.
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