KABUL: Taliban fighters detonated a car bomb at a gate of police headquarters in the Afghan city of Kandahar on Thursday, killing at least 12 and wounding 60 others, police and medical officials and the Taliban said.
After the blast, a militant gunman opened fire from nearby positions and members of the security forces were battling them, said Tadeen Khan, the southern city’s chief of police.
The attackers targeted the police force’s counter-narcotics wing, Khan said. Police cordoned off the area as passersby fled.
A doctor on duty in Kandahar provincial hospital said 20 wounded people had been taken to the hospital, most of the members of the security forces.
The Taliban said in a statement their fighters had detonated a car bomb and clashes were continuing as some fighters had entered the police offices.
Kandahar was the former seat of the Taliban when they ruled Afghanistan from 1996 until they were ousted by a US-led coalition in 2001.
