Five dead in car bomb near Afghan police HQ

LASHKAR GAH: A suicide car bombing killed five people and wounded two dozen others near a police headquarters in southern Afghanistan on Tuesday, officials said.

Mohammad Rasoul, a spokesman for the Afghan army, said three police were killed and three others wounded in the blast in Lashkar Gah, capital of troubled Helmand province.

Enayatullah Ghafari, public health director in the province, told that two dead civilians were also brought to local hospitals.

"I'm sure there are more dead," Ghafari added.

Some 25 other people, both police and civilians, were also wounded, he said.

Lashkar Gah was one of seven areas handed over to Afghan government control by NATO forces in July in a first wave of transition which will see all foreign combat forces leave by the end of 2014.

There have been a string of attacks in Lashkar Gah since British troops formally handed control of security in the area to the Afghan army on July 20, including a suicide car bomb attack on police headquarters which killed 13 people.

Daud Ahmadi, a spokesman for the Helmand provincial administration, told the bombing took place at a centre contracted to provide food and clothing for Afghan security forces.

The Taliban were not immediately contactable for comment on the attack. (AFP)