Suicide Car Bomb Hits Afghan Police in Kandahar, 1 Dead

A suicide car bomber rammed the gate of a police station in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar on Monday, unleashing a powerful blast that killed at least one policeman, officials said.

General Abdul Raziq, the provincial police chief, said the attacker detonated a bomb-laden sedan at the gate of Kandahar city's fourth district police station, killing at least one officer.

Another policeman and three civilians were injured, Jawed Faisal, the chief of the government-run Kandahar Media and Information Centre told Agence France Presse.

"It was a suicide car bombing that hit the gates of the police station. One police was martyred, one police was injured and three civilians were injured," Faisal said.

"The civilians were injured in a nearby house which was badly damaged," he told AFP.

There was no claim of responsibility for the attack but similar bombings in the past have been blamed on the Taliban, which is leading a deadly insurgency to bring down the U.S.-backed government in Kabul.

Kandahar is the birthplace of the Taliban movement. Police and government security forces, trained by the U.S.-led NATO mission in Afghanistan, have been prime targets of insurgents.

Interior ministry spokesman Sediq Siddiqi confirmed the attack but had no further details. "So far, we have one police death," Siddiqi told AFP.

Witnesses reported "an extremely powerful explosion.”

The Taliban ruled Afghanistan from 1996 until they were toppled by the 2001 U.S.-led invasion for refusing to renounce al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.

Since then, remnants of the regime have orchestrated an increasingly deadly insurgency focused on suicide attacks and roadside bombings that frequently miss their military targets and cause civilian casualties.

The United States and the Taliban, which have opened a liaison office in the Gulf state of Qatar, have confirmed initial talks ahead of possible negotiations designed to end the 10-year conflict.