Suicide attack in Afghanistan kills 10 police officers

Din Mohammad Darwesh, a spokesperson for the governor of Afghanistan's eastern Logar province said on Tuesday that the officers were killed when four suicide attackers stormed a police headquarters in the provincial capital, Pul-i-Alam, around 80 kilometers (50 miles) east of Kabul.

"Four suicide bombers attacked the police headquarters. One detonated himself at the gate, two others were killed in a firefight with police, but one managed to get into and detonate himself at the dining place of police forces," Darweish told the AFP new agency, adding that "10 police were martyred and eight injured" in the attack.

The Associated Press cited a member of Logar's provincial council, Muhibulla Ghayrat, who said the bombers had been wearing police uniforms, which helped them gain access to the compound.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, but Taliban Islamist militants have stepped up their attacks on Afghan police and soldiers in recent months, particularly since US and NATO forces ended their combat mission in the country at the end of last year.

Officials though, have blamed the Taliban for an attack that killed six police officers in the south of the country late on Monday.

However, details about the circumstances of the attack in Maiwand district remained sketchy on Tuesday, with news agencies quoting different officials who provided differing accounts of what had happened.

The DPA news agency described it as an attack on a checkpoint, while both AFP and the Associated Press said they were killed as a bomb went off when they approached a house. The Associated Press account said it wasn't clear whether the device had gone of accidentally as militants were working on a bomb, or if they had set it off deliberately as police approached.

pfd/rc (dpa, AP, AFP)