Kabul, January 25: An Afghan policeman and a civilian have been killed in a roadside bomb blast in Herat province in western part of the war-ravaged country.
Noor Khan Nikzad, the spokesman at police headquarters in Herat said Tuesday that Azizollah, head of anti-terrorism operations in the province, lost his life in the blast when he was trying to defuse the bomb planted on a road, a Media correspondent reported.
A nearby Afghan civilian also lost his life in the incident, the report added.
Taliban has accepted responsibility for the attack. Taliban Spokesman Yusoff Ahmadi claimed that two policemen were killed and two others were injured in the assault.
According to officials, Afghan police have managed to detect and defuse some 20 roadside bombs in Herat in the past 10 months.
Earlier on January 3, a bomb explosion outside a butcher’s shop in city of Herat left one civilian dead and four others injured.
Violence has risen to its highest level across war-ravaged Afghanistan since the Taliban were ousted by US-led forces in 2001.
At least 1,271 Afghan civilians have been killed in the first six months of this year, making 2010 the deadliest year yet for civilians in Afghanistan, according to the United Nations.
——-Agencies