Deaths in western Afghanistan after suicide bomber strikes, police say

A suicide bomber in a four-wheel-drive vehicle blew up his cache of explosives on Tuesday morning in Herat province in western Afghanistan, killing or wounding more than 20 people, authorities said.

The attack targeted the local government headquarters as people queued to see government officials, the Associated Press quoted a local official as saying.

Eyewitnesses saw shattered bodies and mangled metal after the blast.

“When a suicide bomber tried to enter the district headquarters, he was stopped by the police but then he detonated his explosives - right at the gate,” said Nasar Ahmad Popul, the chief of the province’s Guzara district, who was inside the building at the time of the blast. “The explosion was so strong - there are causalities among police and civilians.”

Raouf Ahmedi, spokesman for the police commander of the western region of Afghanistan, said more than 20 people have been killed or wounded.

Herat province as well as most of western Afghanistan is relatively calm as insurgents have concentrated their attacks in the south and east.

The responsibility for nearly all of Herat province has been transferred, or is in the process of being transferred, from NATO troops to Afghan forces.

The attack occurred between Herat city, the provincial capital, and the main airport in the area, which is located in Guzara district.