Suicide bomber kills 13 in Afghanistan

A suicide bomber killed 13 people, including three senior officials in Afghanistan’s southwest region; meanwhile, a suspected U.S. drone aircraft killed 10 Taliban militants in the neighboring Pakistan.

In Afghanistan 35 people were also wounded in the attack in Farah City, capital of the Farah Province, said Police Chief Faqir Mohammad Askar

Farah, a mainly desert province along the border with Iran, is one of the areas that has seen a rise in insurgent attacks this year as Taliban militants have spread to the west and north from their traditional bases in the south and east.

The suicide bombing came a day after police said Afghan security forces backed by tribal militia killed six Taliban militants in the same province after the rebels beheaded two tribal leaders on the weekend.

The attack also occurred the day after Afghan President Hamid Karzai was sworn in for a second term, pledging to try to bring peace to the nation and take over security from foreign forces in five years.

The Taliban-led insurgency dogged Afghanistan is now at its deadliest in the eight years since U.S.-led troops ousted their extreme Islamist regime in Kabul, slowly encroaching into previously peaceful parts of the north and west.

Meanwhile, in neighboring Pakistan a U.S. drone carried out an attack near Mir Ali, a town in the North Waziristan region on the Afghan border and a major sanctuary for al-Qaeda and the Taliban.

A Taliban official confirmed the target had apparently been a vehicle."Our men are going to the site of the strike. We don't have details right now," said the Taliban official, who declined to be identified.

The United States has carried out more than 40 attacks with its pilotless, missile-firing aircraft in northwest Pakistan this year as its forces in Afghanistan have faced an intensifying Taliban insurgency.

North Waziristan is a stronghold of Taliban militants and their Qaeda allies. Four militants were killed in a similar strike on Wednesday night in the same region. The Pakistani army has been battling militants in the neighboring South Waziristan region since last month.