Afghan suicide bomber kills 17

Seventeen people were killed in a suicide bombing in southern Afghanistan, near the Pakistan border, an official in Kandahar province said today.

The provincial governor’s spokesman, Zalmay Ayubi, said the attack happened in the town of Spin Baldok at around midday yesterday.

He said the attacker set off his bomb in a barber’s shop where men also go to take baths.

Mr Ayubi said the dead included a police officer and 16 civilians. An additional 23 people were injured in the blast.

Kandahar and other southern provinces are considered traditional Taliban strongholds.