Kandahar, Afghanistan: Car bomb blast near police headquarters leaves 7 dead, 19 injured

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Feb. 05) – At least seven people, including 6 police officers, reported killed on Sunday as a result of a huge explosion outside the police headquarters in a southern in Afghanistan, reported by Associated Press.

Kandahar, Afghanistan: Car bomb blast near police headquarters leaves 7 dead, 19 injured

According to provincial government statements; the explosive material was hidden in parking area of building being used by police in the city of Kandahar. The blast also injured 16 people, including 10 civilians. The windows of close buildings were also shattered by the intensity of the blast.  

No one has yet claimed the responsibility of deadly explosion.

 In the north, meanwhile, Afghan police said that an American soldier shot and killed an Afghan guard at a U.S. base, apparently because the American thought the guard was about to attack him.

There have been a growing number of attacks by Afghan soldiers against international forces in Afghanistan in recent years, some the result of arguments and others by insurgent infiltrators. Last month, an Afghan soldier shot and killed four unarmed French troops last month at a base in eastern Afghanistan.

Friday's shooting in Sari Pul province in northern Afghanistan resulted from an unfortunate misunderstanding, said Sayed Jahangir, the deputy police chief for the province.

Afghans guard the outside perimeter of the base and Americans guard inside. Jahangir said that the Afghan guard — a man named Abdul Rahim — wanted to go into the base and started arguing with the American at the door. Rahim did not raise his weapon, but the American thought he was about to do so and fired, Jahangir said.

"Our initial reports show that the American thought he was acting in self defense," Jahangir said. Rahim was a private guard, not an Afghan soldier or policeman, Jahangir said.

U.S. forces were "aware of an incident in northern Afghanistan" and were investigating, said U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Jimmie Cummings. He declined to provide further details.