Herat: A suicide bomber riding a motorcycle blew himself up in a town in southwestern Afghanistan on Friday, killing 12 people and wounding dozens more, local officials said.
The attack in Farah occurred the day after Afghan President Hamid Karzai was sworn in for a second term, pledging to try to bring peace to the nation and take over security from foreign forces in five years.
The bomber struck in an area where heavy trucks were being loaded up with goods travelling from Farah to neighbouring Herat, police said.
"A suicide bomber with a motorcycle carried out a suicide attack in the centre of Farah town in the area of Ada Herat," said Faqir Ahmad Askar, police chief of the southwestern
province of Farah.
"Twelve people, 11 of them civilians and one of them a police officer were killed," Provincial Governor Rohul Amin Amin said, updating an earlier toll of six given by police.
About 37 other people, mostly civilians, were wounded in the bombing, officials said. More than a dozen were in critical condition so "the death toll may rise," the Governor said.
"The bomber riding on a motorcycle detonated himself at a main square near my working office in my home," the Governor said, adding that the blast caused damage to some nearby buildings.
Bureau Report
First Published: Friday, November 20, 2009, 13:08