Afghan official: Sticky bomb kills 2 policemen, civilian

KABUL – A sticky bomb, attached to a police vehicle, killed two Afghan policemen and a civilian in an attack on Thursday evening in Kabul, a spokesman said.

Interior Ministry spokesman, Najib Danish, says the explosion also wounded 16 others. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack and Danish said the police were investigating.

The city’s district police chief, Ali Ahmad Attahye, said the blast was so powerful that the vehicle, which belonged to the ministry’s counter-terrorism deportment, was completely burned.

Earlier in the day, officials said that 12 members of the Afghan security forces were killed and four others were wounded when the Taliban stormed the governor’s compounds in Maruf district in southern Kandahar province the previous evening.

Zia Durani, spokesman for the provincial chief of police, said that government forces subsequently managed to push the Taliban out of the district.

Taliban spokesman Qari Yusouf Ahmadi said insurgents captured and held Maruf for a few hours, and seized weapons and other items before leaving the district.