Suicide attack kills 12 Afghan security forces

At least a dozen Afghan security forces were killed when a suicide attacker driving an explosives-packed Humvee blew himself up in the southern province of Kandahar, police said yesterday.

The Taliban claimed the deadly assault on the government and police headquarters in Maroof district that also wounded several others.

"Twelve security forces were killed and four others were wounded," Kandahar police spokesman Zia Durrani told AFP.

Durrani said the Taliban attackers had been "defeated".

A border police commander in Maroof, which borders Pakistan, gave a slightly higher toll, telling AFP that 14 security personnel had been killed and eight wounded in the attack that happened late Wednesday.