Five policemen killed in Afghanistan blast

Five Afghan police officers have been killed by a roadside bomb in the southern province of Kandahar today.

Provincial police chief Sher Mohammed Zazai said the policemen were riding in a vehicle that struck a roadside bomb today in the Khakrez district.

Mr Zazai also said that police have identified a 13-year-old boy as the suicide bomber who walked into a wedding celebration on Wednesday in a village near Kandahar and detonated his vest of explosives.

Mr Zazai said 56 people were killed and 24 others were wounded in that blast. Initial reports were that at least 40 people died in the explosion.

Kandahar is the birthplace of the Taliban. It has seen growing violence ahead of an expected major US-led offensive there.