Twenty die in suicide blast at Afghan bazaar

A TALEBAN suicide bomber killed up to 20 civilians, most of them children, and four police officers in southern Afghanistan yesterday.

The bomber, travelling on a motorcycle, targeted a police vehicle in a bazaar in the Deh Rawood district of Uruzgan province. As well as the fatalities, a further 37 civilians and five police officers were injured. Police warned that the death toll could rise.

The interior ministry in Kabul said 24 people, four of them police, including a senior officer, had been killed in the attack.

Taleban suicide bombs have killed more than 230 civilians and wounded nearly 500 already this year, Nato says.

Afghan and foreign forces are stopping a greater proportion of the attacks, but the Taleban are attempting many more suicide bombings this year compared with 2007, security experts say.

Nato says militants in the east of the country have taken advantage of peace deals in Pakistan to cross the border and fight in Afghanistan.

The latest violence comes despite an increase in foreign forces to more than 70,000.

Leading Taleban and al-Qaeda figures are still at large. Some western politicians warned early this year that the country may slide back into anarchy.