ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN - A suicide car bomber killed more than 14 people, mostly police officers, and wounded many more in an embattled key provincial capital in southern Afghanistan, hours after Taliban insurgents staged a major assault and forced their way into the city. REUTERS/Abdul Mailk

LASHKAR GAH, Afghanistan (Reuters) - A suspected car bomb on Monday killed at least 10 police amid increased Taliban attacks on the besieged capital of the southwestern Afghan province of Helmand, with the toll expected to rise, a security official said. Insurgents attacked Kunduz, the capital of the province of the same name, a week ago, a year after they overran it and held it for a few days, then battled Afghan and U.S. forces for three weeks until they were driven out. In the Afghan capital of Kabul, Sediq Sediqqi, the Interior Ministry spokesman, confirmed the attack but expressed confidence security forces “will soon push them (Taliban) back.”

He said security forces had responded quickly but gun battles were continuing, with at least seven insurgents killed and two vehicles packed with explosives destroyed.
A suicide bombing kills at least 14 people, mostly police officers, in Lashkargah, Helmand Province, as Taliban insurgents advance upon the Afghan city.