Afghan intelligence agents detained a 50-year-old "foreign" woman carrying a suicide vest in eastern Afghanistan, while a roadside explosion killed one policeman and wounded three others, officials said Monday.
It appeared the woman was transporting the vest for militants and had not intended to detonate it herself, officials said.
Militants have detonated a record number of suicide attacks this year — more than 140 — but no suicide bombings have been carried out by a woman in Afghanistan.
The burqa-clad woman was detained Sunday at a bus station in the town of Jalalabad, in Nangarhar province, said Sayed Fazlullah Wahidi, governor of the neighboring Kunar province. Authorities were questioning her, he said. Officials believe she was carrying the vest for the Taliban.
Militants often use crudely made suicide vests in their attacks against Afghan and foreign troops. Wahidi said the woman was a foreigner, although he would not say which country she comes from. The border with Pakistan is close to the region the woman was traveling through.
In Kunar province, meanwhile, a roadside blast hit a police vehicle, killing one officer and wounding three others on Sunday, said the provincial police chief, Abdul Jalal Jalal. The explosion happened in the Wata Pur district of Kunar province on Sunday.
NATO's International Security Assistance Force, meanwhile, said insurgents in Kandahar province have hidden bombs in two human corpses in recent days. Two Afghans were killed when a bomb planted in the body of a decapitated Afghan exploded on Friday.
{{/usCountry}}NATO's International Security Assistance Force, meanwhile, said insurgents in Kandahar province have hidden bombs in two human corpses in recent days. Two Afghans were killed when a bomb planted in the body of a decapitated Afghan exploded on Friday.
{{/usCountry}}A second booby-trapped body was discovered about 20 kilometers (10 miles) away on Sunday, ISAF said.