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7 January 2011
Last updated at 05:27 ET
At least 17 people have died in a blast in a crowded public bath house in Afghanistan's southern Kandahar province.
At least 23 people were injured in the attack, which took place in the town of Spin Boldak, on the Pakistan border.
Officials said a suicide bomber was behind the blast, which targeted a police commander inside the building.
The blast happened as the bath house was packed with people getting ready for Friday prayers.
Border police official Gen Abdul Raziq told the BBC: "Today, around 11:50, there was a suicide attack in Spin Boldak targeting a local public bath. The target of the attack was a border police officer, Ramazan. He along with 17 others have been killed and 23 others have been injured."
'Inhumane attack'
A local Afghan intelligence source in Spin Boldak told the BBC that that Ramazan always used the bath house, on the town's main road, ahead of Friday prayers.
All other casualties - and those injured - are believed to be civilians.
The BBC's Bilal Sarwary, in Kabul, says that Afghanistan's security institutions have been targeted in recent weeks in a wave of attacks on the country's army and police who will eventually take over security responsibilities from international forces.
No-one has yet claimed to have carried out the attack but the town is situated some 70 miles (110km) east of the provincial capital of Kandahar, a province that has long been a Taliban stronghold.
A statement from the governor of Kandahar's office called the attack unIslamic.
"This brutal and inhumane act was the work of the enemies of Islam and humanity," said Zalmai Ayoubi.
The attack is the bloodiest to strike the border town in many months and has been condemned by President Hamid Karzai, according to a source close to the president in Kabul who spoke to the BBC.
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At least 23 people were injured in the attack, which took place in the town of Spin Boldak, on the Pakistan border.
Officials said a suicide bomber was behind the blast, which targeted a police commander inside the building.
The blast happened as the bath house was packed with people getting ready for Friday prayers.
Border police official Gen Abdul Raziq told the BBC: "Today, around 11:50, there was a suicide attack in Spin Boldak targeting a local public bath. The target of the attack was a border police officer, Ramazan. He along with 17 others have been killed and 23 others have been injured."
'Inhumane attack'
A local Afghan intelligence source in Spin Boldak told the BBC that that Ramazan always used the bath house, on the town's main road, ahead of Friday prayers.
All other casualties - and those injured - are believed to be civilians.
The BBC's Bilal Sarwary, in Kabul, says that Afghanistan's security institutions have been targeted in recent weeks in a wave of attacks on the country's army and police who will eventually take over security responsibilities from international forces.
No-one has yet claimed to have carried out the attack but the town is situated some 70 miles (110km) east of the provincial capital of Kandahar, a province that has long been a Taliban stronghold.
A statement from the governor of Kandahar's office called the attack unIslamic.
"This brutal and inhumane act was the work of the enemies of Islam and humanity," said Zalmai Ayoubi.
The attack is the bloodiest to strike the border town in many months and has been condemned by President Hamid Karzai, according to a source close to the president in Kabul who spoke to the BBC.
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