A suicide bomber drove an explosives-packed Humvee into a police compound in Afghanistan on Friday, killing at least six officers, five injured and destroying a building, officials said.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the pre-dawn attack on the Maiwand district police headquarters in the southern province of Kandahar.
The vehicle was carrying an estimated 3,000 kilogrammes of explosives, Maiwand district police chief Sultan Mohammad told AFP — roughly twice the number of explosives used in a massive truck bomb in Kabul in May which killed around 150 people.
“Our latest toll shows that we have six police officers martyred and five wounded,” Mohammad said, adding the figures could change.
While Afghan officials routinely understate the casualty toll in attacks carried out by insurgents, it appears the attacker failed to reach the building where a large number of police were deployed.
Mohammad said the attacker got through the first checkpoint and then detonated the vehicle at the second security check after a policeman opened fire.
One building “was completely destroyed and two other buildings next to it were damaged too,” he said.
The force of the blast also blew out the windows of shops located two kilometers away, he added.
“The eight policemen who were killed have been removed or pulled out from under the rubble, and there were other policemen who went missing following the attack,” local officer said.
The Taliban have stepped up attacks on security installations as they seek to demoralize police and troops, and steal equipment to fuel the 16-year insurgency.
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