Official: 5 Afghan policemen killed by roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan

Official: 5 Afghan policemen die in blast

KABUL, Afghanistan — Five Afghan police have been killed by a roadside bomb in the southern province of Kandahar.

Provincial Police Chief Sher Mohammed Zazai says the policemen were riding in a vehicle that struck a roadside bomb Saturday in the Khakrez district.

Zazai also said that police have identified a 13-year-old boy as the suicide bomber who walked into a wedding celebration Wednesday in a village near Kandahar and detonated his vest of explosives. Zazai said 56 people were killed and 24 others were wounded in that blast. Initial reports were that at least 40 people died in the explosion.

Kandahar is the birthplace of the Taliban. It has seen growing violence ahead of an expected major U.S.-led offensive there.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Four Afghan construction laborers were shot and killed and a NATO serviceman died in an explosion in eastern Afghanistan, officials said Saturday.

NATO said the serviceman died Saturday in a roadside bomb blast, but did not provide further details of the incident or disclose the victim’s nationality. So far this month, 36 American and coalition troops have been killed in Afghanistan.

On Friday, militants killed four Afghan construction workers as they were returning home from work. The Ministry of Interior said the workers were shot in Mata Khan district of Paktika province. Their bodies were recovered Friday by policemen who were patrolling the area.

Separately, more than three dozen school girls were treated after becoming ill from suspected poisoning at their high school in Ghazni province, also in eastern Afghanistan.

“More then 40 girls were poisoned inside their school. They are hospitalized, but none of them have life-threatening conditions,” said Mohammad Ismail Ibrahamzia, director of the hospital in Ghazni city.

He said the girls were vomiting and could not stand on their feet when they arrived at the hospital, but they were in stable condition after treatment.

There have been similar cases of illnesses at schools around Afghanistan. Some suspect militants are spraying schools with poison gas because they oppose education for girls.