Taliban suicide attack hits district police HQ in Kandahar

KANDAHAR -- A suicide bomber drove an explosives-packed Humvee into a police compound in Kandahar Province Friday (December 22), killing at least six officers and destroying an entire building, officials said.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the pre-dawn attack on the Maiwand District police headquarters.

The vehicle was carrying an estimated 3,000kg of explosives, Maiwand District Police Chief Sultan Mohammad told AFP.

It was not possible to verify his claim. If true, that would be roughly twice the number of explosives used in a massive truck bomb in Kabul that killed about 150 people in May.

"We have six police officers martyred and five wounded," Mohammad said, adding the figures could change.

Kandahar Police spokesman Ghorzang Afridi confirmed the death toll.

"All the victims were local policemen," he told AFP.

Those killed were said to be new recruits.

Stopped short of target

It appears the attacker failed to reach the building where a large number of police were deployed.

Mohammad said the attacker got through the first checkpoint and then detonated the vehicle at the second security check after a policeman opened fire.

One building "was completely destroyed and two other buildings next to it were damaged too," he said, adding that the force of the blast blew out the windows of shops located 2km away.

"The explosion was very loud, and you could hear the sound of the blast miles away from the headquarters," a local police officer told AFP on the condition of anonymity.

He put the death toll at eight with nine others wounded.

"The eight policemen who were killed have been removed or pulled out from under the rubble, and there were other policemen who went missing following the attack," the officer said.

The Taliban have acquired "dozens" of armoured Humvees and pickup trucks in recent years, officials say.

Some of those vehicles have been used in suicide attacks on police and military bases -- including one in Kandahar in October that killed more than 40 Afghan soldiers.