Suicide bomber kills 9 at checkpoint in south Afghanistan

Kabul, October 1

An Afghan official says at least nine people including four civilians were killed when a suicide car bomber attacked a military checkpoint in southern Afghanistan.

Omer Zwak, a spokesman for the provincial governor in Helmand, said on Thursday a small child and three security personnel were wounded in the late Wednesday night attack in Nahri Sarah district.

Zwak said civilians were in a vehicle passing by when the attacker targeted the checkpoint. Two women were among those killed.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but Taliban insurgents are in control of most part of Helmand province.

The violence comes even as Taliban leaders and Afghan government-appointed negotiators are holding historic peace talks in Qatar, a Mideast country where the Taliban set up a political office after they were toppled from power in the 2001 US-led invasion of Afghanistan. The negotiations, which started earlier this month, are meant to end the fighting and establish a roadmap for a post-war society. —AP