Afghanistan

Bomb kills 12 in Herat

Article published on the 2009-08-03 Latest update 2009-08-03 12:23 TU

A man walks past a campaign banner for presidential candidate Shahla Ata in Kabul August on Sunday, 2009.
(Photo: Reuters)

Ahead of this month's election, a bomb exploded during rush-hour on Monday in the city of Herat in western Afghanistan. Twelve people have died and at least are 30 injured according to local authorities.

A bomb killed 12 people and left 30 injured in Herat, in the west of Afghanistan on Monday. It went off during rush-hour in the city.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, saying they had targetted a police chief.

Police chief for the region, Esmatullah Alizai said the device had been placed in a rubbish bin on the side of the road, and had been detonated by remote control as a police convoy passed.

Two of the dead belong to the police force, he added.

There has been no claim of responsibility for the attack so far, which comes ahead of the country's elections on 20 August.

The fundamentalist Taliban who are at war with the Afghan government, have called on Afghans to boycott the vote.

Authorities announced on Sunday that seven Afghan police and army personnel had been killed, along with two Canadian and three US soldiers.