Roadside Bomb Kills Afghan Police Chief, Three Others

A roadside bomb ripped through a police vehicle in eastern Afghanistan on Sunday, killing a district police chief and three policemen, an official said.

The police chief of Pachir Wa Agam district of Nangarhar province had escaped an ambush by militants and was on the way to his office when his vehicle hit a roadside bomb, provincial spokesman Ahmad Zia Abdulzai told Agence France Presse.

"The police chief of Pachir Wa Agam along with three policemen were killed and seven police were wounded," he said.

He blamed the "enemies of Afghanistan", a term used by Afghan officials to refer to Taliban, for the attack.

The Taliban, who are waging an insurgency against the U.S.-backed Afghan government, were not immediately available to comment.

Roadside bombs are the Taliban's weapon of choice in the 12-year war against foreign and Afghan forces, but the civilian toll is increasing.

In the neighboring Kunar province on Sunday, a roadside bomb hit a passenger van in the province's Shegal district, killing four civilians, the interior ministry said in a statement.

Another civilian was wounded in the blast, it said.