Seven Afghan policemen killed in suicide attack, blast

, May 31: A suicide car bomb attack and a separate blast at a checkpost in

killed at least seven policemen on Thursday, officials said.

The first attack took place when a suicide bomber rammed an Afghan police checkpost killing at least five policemen and wounding six others in the southern province of Kandahar, sources said. The attacker drove his explosives-laden car into the checkpoint at the district police headquarters of Arghistan district, Jawed Faisal, the provincial government's spokesperson, said.

"Five policemen were martyred and six others injured in this cowardly attack," Faisal said. Kandahar is the largest city in southern Afghanistan and the birthplace of the Taliban, who have been waging a bloody insurgency since their ouster from power by the US-led invasion following the 9/11 attacks.

In the second incident, an explosion took place at a police checkpost in the capital of eastern Nangarhar province, killing at least two policemen. Confirming the incident, spokesperson of eastern Nangarhar provincial government Ahmad Zia Abdulzai said security forces were still investigating the cause of the blast. Militants frequently target Afghan police and military, who are due to assume responsibility for the country's security from NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) by the end of 2014.

The attacks come weeks after the Taliban announced their 'spring offensive', a campaign of bombings and attacks that picks up every year as weather conditions improve. There are presently 130,000 US-led NATO forces fighting the Taliban-led insurgency.

AFP