Suicide car bomber kills five Afghan border police

SPIN BOLDAK, Afghanistan, Sep 25 (Reuters) A suicide car bomber rammed an Afghan border police convoy today, killing five guards and wounding three others, a police official in the southern province of Kandahar said.

The convoy was travelling through Spin Boldak, a town about 4 km from the border with Pakistan, when the bomber struck outside the district police headquarters.

''Five Afghan border guards have been killed in the attack,'' police official Mohammad Anwar told Reuters.

He had no further details but the Taliban have claimed responsibility for such attacks in the past.

Southern Afghanistan has seen a sharp rise in violence during the past year-and-a-half, with daily clashes between Taliban insurgents and Afghan and foreign forces.

More than 7,000 people have been killed during the past 19 months, the bloodiest period since the Taliban government was overthrown by Afghan and US-led forces in 2001.

REUTERS AE RAI2120