Suicide bombers target border town in southern Afghanistan, killing 1

Suicide bombers target border town in southern Afghanistan, killing 1

2011-02-24 20:45:32 GMT+7 (ICT)

SPIN BOLDAK, AFGHANISTAN (BNO NEWS) -- A large explosion rocked a border town in southern Afghanistan on Thursday morning, officials said, killing one person and injuring more than two dozen others.

The blast happened around 11.15 a.m. local time near a National Directorate of Security (NDS) checkpoint in Spin Boldak, a border town in southern Kandahar Province. NDS is Afghanistan's domestic intelligence agency.

According to the office of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, two suicide bombers had gone to a bazaar in Spin Boldak. There, one of them was shot and killed by security forces while the second one detonated his explosives, causing a large explosion.

As a result of the explosion, one NDS officer was killed while four Afghan government officials and 21 Afghan civilians were wounded. There were no foreign troops among the casualties, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said.

Karzai, in a statement released by his office, strongly condemned the attack and expressed his condolences to the victim's families. ISAF also condemned the attack, saying: "This attack is yet another example of insurgents wantonly killing Afghan civilians."

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