WORLD> Middle East
Roadside bomb kills 10 in west Afghanistan
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-08-03 16:36

HERAT, Afghanistan: A roadside bomb attack claimed by the Taliban killed at least 10 people in west Afghanistan's most important city on Monday, officials said, amid worsening security before a presidential poll this month.

The remote-controlled bomb may have been aimed at a local police chief but killed mainly passers-by when it went off during rush hour near a blood bank in Herat, a relatively peaceful city near the Iranian border and an important commercial centre.

Roadside bomb kills 10 in west Afghanistan
The wreckage of a police vehicle is seen after a roadside bomb blast in the western city of Herat August 3, 2009. [Agencies]

Violence has escalated across Afghanistan before the August 20 presidential poll, seen as a key test for Washington and Kabul. Nine foreign soldiers, including six Americans, were killed in Taliban strongholds in the south and east at the weekend.

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The Taliban have vowed to disrupt the election and have called on Afghans to boycott the ballot, the second direct vote for president since the Islamists were toppled in 2001.

Among those killed in Monday's blast were a woman, a 12-year-old girl and two policemen, said provincial security commander General Esmatullah Alizai.

A Reuters witness saw several women and children being carried out of ambulances on stretchers into a military hospital in Herat.

Alizai put the death toll at 10 and said Khoja Issa, a district police chief in the area, was also seriously wounded. Taliban spokesman Qari Mohammad Yousuf said Issa was the target of the attack.

Afghanistan's Interior Ministry put the death toll at 10 and said 29 were wounded. Afghan President Hamid Karzai condemned the Herat bombing, labelling it "a terrorist attack".

Herat, one of Afghanistan's three largest cities, is usually a safe and prosperous centre because of strong trade links with neighbouring Iran and Turkmenistan.