Afghan officials say explosion has killed 6 policemen; religious leader assassinated in south

KABUL, Afghanistan – Afghan officials say an explosion in the country's south has killed six local policemen.

Mohammad Ibrahim, the police chief in Nad Ali district of Helmand province, says the blast on Wednesday morning occurred when the policemen's vehicle ran over a roadside bomb.

The victims were members of the Afghan Local Police, a village defense unit that is overseen by the Interior Ministry.

Also in the south, a member of Afghanistan's top religious council was assassinated on Tuesday in Tarin Kot, the capital of Uruzgan province.

Provincial police spokesman Fareed Ayal says a gunman shot and killed Abdul Samad as he was driving his car.

President Hamid Karzai condemned the assassination.