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Two separate attacks in Afghanistan’s west and south have left at least 18 people dead and another 45 wounded, according to local police. In Tuesday’s first incident, a Toyota 4×4 vehicle with two people inside detonated a cache of explosives on the road from Herat International Airport to the Guzara district of western Herat province, according to the Afghan interior ministry.
Al Jazeera’s Bernard Smith, reporting from Kabul, said the vehicle drove through a checkpoint on a bridge 2km ahead of its target and ignored two orders to stop before the explosives were detonated.
“The explosion was so strong\u00a0 there are causalities among police and civilians”, said Nasar Ahmad Popul, the Guzara administrative chief, who was inside the building at the time of the attack.
Mohiddin Noori, spokesman for Herat’s governor, said six civilians and three policeman were among the 14 reported deaths. At least 40 people were injured in the Tuesday morning attack.
“The number of casualties may rise,” Noori said of the attack.
The Taliban claimed responsibility, but said a police bullet led to the detenonation that led to civilian lives.
The building, home to the offices of Guzara’s police chief and administrative chief, also suffered damage, Popul said
The attack took place as people were gathered outside the building, waiting to see government officials about various matters inside.
A reporter for the AFP news agency on the scene said he saw shattered bodies lying among rubble and mangled pieces of metal after the bombing.
The responsibility for nearly all of Herat province has been transferred, or is in the process of being transferred, from NATO troops to Afghan forces.<\/p>\n