KABUL ( 2009-07-04 17:53:57 ) :A roadside bomb tore through a police vehicle in an insurgent attack in a southern Afghanistan flashpoint on Saturday, killing seven officers, the interior ministry said.

The incident took place in Registan district in Kandahar province, the ministry said.

"A roadside bomb struck a police vehicle which resulted in the martyrdom of seven policemen," the statement said. Two other officers were wounded in the blast, which the ministry blamed on insurgents.

In the north, a bomb blast killed an Afghan civilian and wounded another in the province of Jawzjan, the ministry said.

About 4,000 US marines along with 600 Afghan forces have launched a massive operation against rebel hideouts in Helmand, the economic engine of the Taliban insurgency in southern Afghanistan.



Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2009