Suicide blast kills 12 Afghan civilians, 6 police

By Sharafuddin Sharafyar

HERAT, Afghanistan (Reuters) - A suicide bomber disguised in a burqa blew himself up in a bazaar in western Afghanistan on Thursday, killing six police and 12 civilians, officials said.

Twenty-two people were wounded in the blast, which happened near a police station in the Del Aram district of Farah province. The policemen were inspecting vehicles on the road outside at the time.

"So far, 18 people, including police and civilians, have been killed," Farah's governor Rohul Amin told Reuters by telephone.

Citing officials near the site, Amin said the bomber was wearing the all-enveloping burqa robe commonly worn by Afghan women.

President Hamid Karzai who has been leading Afghanistan since the Taliban's removal in 2001, condemned the attack and said it was "obscene" that the bomber had used a burqa as a disguise.

"The enemies of Afghanistan, by misusing the women's veil, put on display their unmanliness," a palace statement quoted him as saying.

A Taliban spokesman, Qari Mohammad Yousuf, told Reuters the attack was carried out by a member of the group, which is leading an insurgency against the government and foreign troops. He said the bomber was a man and was not wearing a burqa.

The al Qaeda-backed Taliban largely rely on suicide attacks and roadside blasts in their campaign to overthrow Karzai's pro-Western government and eject foreign forces.  Continued...