Afghan police march during a graduation ceremony at a police training centre on the outskirts of Jalalabad on July 4, 2013. A suicide bomber killed 12 policemen in the southern Afghan province of Uruzgan on Friday when he blew himself up inside a police station as officers ate lunch in a dining hall, officials said. (AFP)
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AFP) – A suicide bomber killed 12 policemen in the southern Afghan province of Uruzgan on Friday when he blew himself up inside a police station as officers ate lunch in a dining hall, officials said.
The bomber targeted a base used to patrol the main road from Uruzgan to neighbouring Kandahar province, through one of Afghanistan's most volatile regions where Taliban militants have a strong presence.
"A suicide bomber detonated his explosives in a battalion station in Tirin Kot, the provincial capital," Abdullah Hemat, the Uruzgan governor's spokesman, told AFP.
"The bomber, who was on foot and wearing a suicide vest, blew himself up while the policemen were having lunch. As a result, 12 policemen were killed and five others wounded," he said.
The attack was the second suicide strike in Afghanistan on Friday after another bomber detonated himself at a border crossing with Pakistan, killing two people including a senior Afghan police commander.
The attacker had crossed from Pakistan to Spin Boldak on the Afghan side, Afghan officials said.
Fox News' "Antisemitism Exposed" newsletter brings you stories on the rising anti-Jewish prejudice across the U.S. and the world.