Huge blast kills 16 in Kandahar

At least 16 people were killed and 38 wounded yesterday when a minivan packed with explosives exploded as members of the security forces were trying to defuse it in southern Afghanistan, officials said.

Police and intelligence officers in the city of Kandahar had already cleared the area around a bus station where the van was found, said the provincial governor's spokesman Daud Ahmadi.

"As the security forces were trying to defuse the van, it detonated," said police spokesman Mohammad Qasim Azad.

At least five children and 10 members of the security forces were among the wounded. The blast was so powerful that most of the casualties were passers-by outside the cleared area.

No group immediately claimed responsibility. The blast was quickly condemned by President Ashraf Ghani, who praised the "brave" officers who dealt with it.

The Taliban are stepping up their spring offensive across the war-torn country.

Late Monday the insurgents attacked two districts in the southeastern province of Ghazni, briefly capturing the police headquarters in one of them before being pushed back, said governor's spokesman Aref Noori.

He said 16 members of the security forces had been killed in the fighting and the Taliban also suffered "heavy" losses, with sporadic clashes continuing yesterday.