Suicide bomber attacks Afghan police, 1 killed

Khost (Afghanistan), Oct 6: A suicide bomber blew himself up at the gates of the police headquarters of the eastern Afghan town of Khost today, killing himself and a policeman, the provincial police chief said.

The Taliban, fighting an intensified insurgency in the Afghan east and south, claimed responsibility for the latest in a bloody wave of suicide attacks.

''Police wanted to search him when he blew himself up,'' said provincial police chief Mohammad Ayub. Three policemen were wounded, he said.

Suicide blasts used to be unheard of in Afghanistan, but there have been scores of such attacks since last year when militants in Afghanistan began copying tactics used by Iraqi insurgents.

A Taliban commander, Mullah Hayat Khan, said by telephone that the bomber was an Afghan member of the Taliban.

Violence in Afghanistan this year has been the most intense since US-led forces ousted the hardline Taliban five years ago, weeks after the September. 11 attacks.

Reuters