News - Afghanistan

At least 12 people were killed and 59 others were injured in a twin suicide attack in Maidan Wardak province on Saturday, local officials said.

The attack took place in the province's Sayedabad district at about 6:00 AM local time when the suicide boomers targeted the governor compound and a Nato outpost, provincial spokesman Shahiddullah Shahid said.

"A suicide bomber on foot detonated his explosives near the gate of the base in the district in a bazaar, opening the way for a suicide bomber in a truck that followed him, killing 12 including four policemen and injuring 59 others, alongside seven other police" he said.

Most of the victims are evacuated to Kabul, he added.

He says no Nato staff were killed, only three Afghan intelligence employees and two Nato soldiers were injured in the attack.

Provincial spokesman Abdul Wali said that the number of injured was so high that it could hardly be counted and much of bazaar has been destroyed.

Meanwhile the Taliban claimed reasonability for the attack, saying that they killed and injured many Nato soldiers.

Insurgents attacked the same Nato outpost last year, killing five Afghans and injuring several American soldiers.