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Nine killed, 17 injured in twin Afghan suicide attacks

Nine people including four police officers were killed on Sunday when two suicide bombers blew themselves up near a police station in southern Afghanistan, authorities said.

Updated on: May 10, 2009, 20:47:29 IST
AFP | By , Kandahar
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Nine people including four police officers were killed on Sunday when two suicide bombers blew themselves up near a police station in southern Afghanistan, authorities said.

HT Image
HT Image

Seventeen others including soldiers and civilians were injured in the bombings in Girishk, a restive area in the southern province of Helmand, interior ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary told AFP.

"Two suicide bombers attacked a police station in Girishk, killing four policemen, four civilians and one army soldier," Bashary said.

He blamed the attacks on "the enemies of Afghanistan's people, the terrorists", a term Afghan officials use to refer to Taliban insurgents.

"This was a most cowardly attack by the enemies of the people and we strongly condemn it," the spokesman added.

The first bomber detonated explosives strapped to his body near police vehicles outside the station, district police chief Abdul Raziq said, and the second attack hit as security forces rushed to the scene.

"There were two successive suicide attacks in Girishk town against a police convoy that I was in. The second bomber detonated as we -- the police and army soldiers -- responded to the first attack," he said.

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