A suicide car bomber in Afghanistan killed at least four people and wounded 40 in an attack on a police base in the country’s southern Kandahar province, a provincial official said Monday.
Officials searched the ruins of homes destroyed by the blast following the attack on Sunday night in the province’s Maiwand district, said Mohammad Ashraf Nadery, the provincial director of Kandahar’s public health department. He said those the wounded involved both soldiers and civilians.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. Kandahar long has been a stronghold for them since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion after the September 11 attacks masterminded by al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, whom the Taliban hosted in those days. Osama bin Laden was killed in Pakistan in 2011 by US forces in Abbottabad, Pakistan.
Violence has increased in Afghanistan in recent months, even as the Taliban and government negotiators hold peace talks in Qatar. The two sides have made little efforts to maintain the peace and attacks continue despite warnings from the U.S. that ongoing violence could derail the talks.
