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Indian engineer, Afghan cops killed in suicide attack: Official

An Indian engineer and six Afghan policemen were killed when a suicide bomber blew himself among security forces investigating an earlier explosion in western Afghanistan.

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KANDAHAR (Afghanistan): An Indian engineer and six Afghan policemen were killed on Thursday when a suicide bomber blew himself among security forces investigating an earlier explosion in western Afghanistan, an official said.   

The blast in Khashrud district of Nimroz province was the first suicide bombing this year. Nearly 150 such attacks mostly blamed on Taliban rebels killed hundreds of people -- mainly civilians -- in 2007.  

"At this point we know that an Indian engineer and six policemen have been killed in the suicide bombing," provincial governor Ghulam Dastgir Azad said.   

"First they detonated a bomb hidden in a motorbike on the side of the road. When police came to see what's happening a suicide bomber came up and blew himself up amongst them," Azad said.   

Eleven policemen and another Indian road worker were wounded in the blast which was apparently targeted at security forces and a team of Indian road constructors in the area, the governor said.    He could not immediately say who was behind the attack and no one had claimed responsibility.   

Most similar attacks have been blamed on the Taliban or their Al-Qaeda allies trying to destabilise the country and disrupt reconstruction efforts.   

Iraq-style suicide bombings are now a favored tactic in the Taliban insurgency, which is in its deadliest phase since the hardline regime was toppled in late 2001 for sheltering Al-Qaeda.   

The top commander of the 40,000 strong NATO force fighting the Taliban said Wednesday that the rebels were likely to continue using suicide bombings and improvised explosive devices in their 2008 campaign.   

"What do I expect to see the insurgent do (in 2008)? I think he'll stay on the IED piece, I think he'll try to increase the number of suicide bombers," US General Dan McNeill said.   

A soldier with the separate US-led coalition was killed Wednesday in a bomb blast in the eastern province of Khost on the Pakistani border, the first foreign soldier to die here this year.   

Last year was the bloodiest for Afghanistan since the United States, supported by its Western allies, toppled the Taliban.   

More than 6,000 people were killed in 2007. Although many of them were rebels, about 1,000 Afghan civilians and a further 1,000 members of Afghan security personnel died, along with nearly 220 foreign soldiers.   

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