Roadside Bomb Kills Afghan Police Chief

W300

A roadside bomb ripped through a police vehicle in southern Afghanistan, killing a district police chief and two of his bodyguards, police said Monday.

The blast happened late Sunday as the group drove from Lashkar Gah, the capital of troubled Helmand province, to Garmser district.

"Mohammed Saifullah, the police chief of Garmser district in Helmand province, was killed along with two bodyguards when a roadside bomb hit their vehicle last night," said Helmand police chief Mohammed Hakim Angar.

Helmand has been one of the bloodiest battlefields of the Afghan war, although foreign forces say they have rooted out some key insurgent strongholds in recent months following a troop surge.

Lashkar Gah was one of seven areas handed over to Afghan government control by NATO-led forces in July in a first wave of transition which will see all foreign combat forces leave by the end of 2014.

The attack happened on the same day seven people were killed by a suicide bomber as they returned from prayers at the start of Muslim holiday Eid al-Adha in Baghlan, northern Afghanistan.