A suicide truck bomb in southern Afghanistan killed two civilians on Tuesday and wounded more than 40 others, officials said.
The suicide bomber drove a truck loaded with explosives to the gate at police headquarters in the capital of the Helmand province, Lashkar Gah, which is an area that knows violence all too well, according to L'Agence France-Presse (AFP) via Yahoo.
"It was a suicide truck bomber detonating his vehicle at the gate of police headquarters," provincial police spokesman Farid Ahmad Obaid told AFP. "Our initial reports show 40 wounded, two killed." All casualties were civilians.
"The blast was very powerful," said the provincial spokesman, Omar Zhwak, when he confirmed the attack. "Most of the wounded people are civilians who were hit by broken glass inside their homes."
Eyewitnesses reportedly claimed seeing three individuals attempt to enter the building after the bomb went off, according to Radio Free Europe; however, police shot and killed one attacker and the other two were able to get away.
No one claimed the attack, but the Taliban is suspected as they began their annual spring-summer offensive in late April, according to AFP, and promised the nation the bloodiest summer seen in the last decade.
After the attack in Helmand, a car bomb was detonated in Kabul. "A small sticky bomb attached to a military vehicle detonated in western Kabul this morning. Only the car was damaged," Kabul police spokesman Ebadullah Karimi Kabul told AFP, according to Hurryiet Daily News.
The Afghan government has made attempts to start peace negotiations, but the militants are not easily wrangled. Meanwhile, the troops and police face record casualties, according to AFP.
