11 dead in Afghan suicide attack

A suicide bomber in a police uniform detonated explosives he was carrying inside a police headquarters in southern Afghanistan on Monday, killing 11 people and wounding 29 others, the interior ministry said. The bombing followed a surge in violence in Afghanistan over the weekend that led to the deaths of eight foreign troops, including four Americans. The bomber on Monday set off his explosives after slipping inside the main police building in Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand province, while the police were exercising, said Asadullah Sherzad, the provincial police chief. The attack killed nine police and two civilians and wounded 29 others, mostly police, the interior ninistry said in a statement. The attack is most likely the work of Taliban militants, who regularly use suicide bombers in their attacks against Afghan and foreign forces in the country. The lightly armed police force has suffered greatly in Taliban attacks, with more than 800 officers killed in 2008 alone.