Seven killed, 12 wounded in Afghan suicide attack

KABUL, Afghanistan - Agence France-Presse

Army soldiers carry an Afghan National Army soldier suffering from a gunshot wound in eastern Afghanistan, May 16, 2012. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui

Seven people were killed and 12 others wounded in a suicide attack on the governor's compound in Afghanistan's western Farah province today, police said.
 
"Seven people -- six policemen and one civilian -- were killed and 12 others were wounded, including nine civilians and three police," regional police spokesman Abdul Raouf Ahmadi said. The four attackers also died, he said.
 
Two of the attackers detonated their suicide vests and the other two were shot dead by police, said interior ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi.
 
In a similar attack on the governor's office in Paktika province in southeastern Afghanistan a week ago, four people were killed and five wounded by a group of six suicide bombers wearing police uniforms.

Taliban insurgents seeking to topple the government of President Hamid Karzai claimed responsibility for that attack.

The attacks come in the wake of the Taliban announcing their spring offensive earlier this month, a campaign of bombings and attacks that picks up every year as weather conditions improve.