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Suicide bomber in police uniform kills 9 Afghans
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-03-30 22:53

DUND, Afghanistan -- A suicide bomber wearing a police uniform blew himself up inside police headquarters in southern Afghanistan on Monday, killing nine people and wounding eight, an official said.

A Pakistani paramilitary soldiers stand beside heavy artillery confiscated from militants in an operation on display for media at the paramilitary headquarters in Jamrud, the main town of Pakistan's Khyber tribal region, Monday, March 30, 2009. [Agencies]

Five officers and four civilians died in the attack in Dund district, about 10 miles (15 kilometers) south of Kandahar city, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.

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The attack comes as the United States prepares to send 21,000 additional troops to Afghanistan to bolster the 38,000 American forces already in the country. President Barack Obama last week announced a new strategy for the Afghanistan-Pakistan region with a goal to "disrupt, dismantle and defeat" al-Qaida.

In total, there are a record 70,000 international forces in Afghanistan.

The international Red Cross warned Monday that more Afghans and Pakistanis will be at risk in coming months as a result of worsening political instability and fighting. It urged the United States and others to consider the plight of civilians as they step up their military presence in the volatile region.

Canadian soldiers and Afghan police stood guard at the blast site in Kandahar and ordered journalists not to take photos, according to an Associated Press reporter at the scene. The Canadian soldiers refused to let Afghan police approach the blast site, the reporter said.

A spokesman for NATO's International Security Assistance Force, Lt. Commander Chris Hall, said troops later allowed photos to be taken once media credentials were checked.

Kandahar is the spiritual birthplace of the Taliban and continues to be a militant stronghold. Afghan police frequently suffer from Taliban attacks from roadside and suicide bombs.

A roadside bomb also killed three police in the eastern province of Paktia on Monday, the ministry said.

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