Kabul: Separate bomb blasts in volatile southern Afghanistan killed 10 police and wounded nine civilians, officials said on Sunday.
The police were killed late on Saturday when their vehicle hit an improvised explosive device (IED), or home-made bomb, in Kandahar province, the spiritual home of the insurgent Taliban.
"The police were travelling in a police vehicle which struck an IED and some of the police died and some of them were injured. The injured died later in hospital," said General Abdul Raziq, the Kandahar police chief.
In the city of Lashkar Gah on Sunday, in the neighbouring province of Helmand, another improvised bomb wounded nine people, Interior Ministry spokesman Siddiq Siddiqi said.
The latest southern unrest comes at a critical juncture in the nearly 10-year war on Taliban-led insurgents, as thousands of US surge troops prepare to go home and other Western nations announce limited withdrawals of soldiers.
All foreign combat forces are due to leave Afghanistan by the end of 2014.
NATO is meanwhile probing the Taliban`s claim that they shot down a helicopter late on Friday killing a team of 30 American troops, many of whom were special forces, and seven Afghan commandos.
Bureau Report
