Suicide bomber kills 17 in Afghan bath house
KANDAHAR. January 8. KAZINFORM A suicide bomber struck a bath house in a southern Afghan city as men gathered to wash up before Friday prayers, killing 17 people, including a border police officer who was the apparent target, the spokesman for the Kandahar governor said Friday; Kazinform refers to Arab News.
NATO also announced Friday that one of its service members was killed in a roadside bombing in southern Afghanistan.
The midday attack killed 16 civilians and a police inspector in Spin Boldak, a city near the Pakistani border about 70 miles (110 kilometers) east of the provincial capital of Kandahar, said the governor's spokesman, Zalmay Ayubi. The apparent target was the inspector, who works for the border patrol, he said.
Twenty-three other people were wounded.
The blast reflected the continuing instability in Afghanistan, particularly in the southern part of the country. That area has traditionally been the Taleban's stronghold and the scene of some of the fiercest fighting of a war that is approaching the start of its 10th year; Kazinform cites Arab News.
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