At least 17 people were killed and 23 injured Friday in a suicide bombing targeting a border police commander in southern Afghanistan, officials said. The commander was among those killed in the attack in Kandahar province, said Zulmai Ayobi, the provincial governor's spokesman.
In a separate incident on Friday, three soldiers with the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force were also killed by an improvised explosive device in eastern Afghanistan, the alliance said in a statement without providing the nationalities of the deceased.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the suicide attack in Kandahar. It occurred at a public bath - located in the Spin Boldak area near the Pakistani border - where people cleanse themselves before Friday prayers. All the injured were evacuated to a nearby hospital, a statement from the governor's office said.
The governor condemned the attack, calling it "inhuman and un- Islamic," carried out by "enemies of the people" - a term used often by officials to describe Taliban insurgents. He said he has ordered security officials to bring those responsible to justice. Afghan President Hamid Karzai joined in the condemnation, saying the terrorists had acted in an un-Islamic way. "Terrorists in their un-Islamic act martyred and injured people in a busy civilian area who were there just for a bath," a statement issued by his office said. ISAF officials also described the attack as a "heinous act."
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