Taliban bomb kills 10 in western Afghanistan

Police chief critically injured in Herat blast
Woman and girl killed in fruit market attack
The wreckage of a police car after a Taliban bomb attack in Herat
The wreckage of a police car after a Taliban bomb attack in Herat which killed at least 10 people. Photograph: Reuters REUTERS

A remote-controlled bomb exploded today in western Afghanistan's main city, killing at least 10 people and critically wounding a district police chief, the target of the attack.

The Taliban has claimed responsibility for the bomb, which went off on a crowded street near a fruit market in Herat. It injured 30 people, said Raouf Ahmedi, a police spokesman.

A Taliban spokesman, Qari Yousuf Ahmadi, said the group had targeted Mohammad Issa, the police chief for nearby Injil district, who was driving into the city. The police spokesman said he had been taken to a Nato-run hospital in critical condition.

Local police officials initially reported a dozen dead, but the head of the regional health department, Dr Ghulam Said Rashid, confirmed 10 were killed: a woman, a girl, six men and two police officers.

Ahmedi said the blast blew out windows over a 100-metre radius and several casualties were fruit stallholders. Witnesses said the bomb left a metre-wide crater in the street and damaged two police vehicles.

The interior ministry, meanwhile, said insurgents attacked a police checkpoint in the old city of Baghlan in northern Afghanistan yesterday. Eight militants and two police died in the ensuing gunbattle, the ministry said.

The violence in the comparatively calm cities of Herat and Baghlan highlighted the volatile situation across Afghanistan as it braces for presidential and local elections this month.

President Hamid Karzai, who is seen as the frontrunner, condemned the bombing. "This is another attempt by the terrorists to disrupt democracy and development in Afghanistan," he said in a statement.

Around 100,000 Nato troops have been deployed in Afghanistan, including a record 62,000 US troops, more than double the number a year ago but still half their strength in Iraq.

Nine troops have been killed in fighting or bombings this month in Afghanistan, including three Americans on Sunday and three on Saturday, along with two Canadians and one French soldier.

July was the deadliest month for international troops since the 2001 US-led invasion to oust the Taliban government, with 74 foreign troops killed.

Roadside bombs have become the militants' weapon of choice, with the number of such attacks rising sharply this year.

US troops claim the militants are now using bombs with little or no metal, making them even harder to detect. The Taliban is planting bombs on top of one another and burying several bombs in one small area.

US commanders have long predicted a rise in violence in Afghanistan this summer, the country's traditional fighting season, with Taliban militants vowing to disrupt the presidential vote on 20 August.