KABUL, May 5: Five border policemen were killed when a roadside bomb ripped through their patrol vehicle in eastern Afghanistan, an official said on Saturday.

The bomb struck their pick-up truck in the Dur Baba district of Nangarhar province, near the Pakistan border, on Friday night, the provincial governor’s spokesman said.

“Yesterday evening, a border police vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb that unfortunately left all five border policemen dead,” said spokesman Ahmad Zia Abdulzai.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but roadside bombs are regularly planted by Taliban militants fighting a decade-long war against Nato-led foreign troops and Afghan government forces.

Afghan security forces are particular targets of the Taliban, as the country prepares to take over full responsibility for security from some 130,000 foreign troops by 2014. Roadside bombs also take a high toll among civilians.

Around 80 per cent of the 3,000 Afghan civilians killed in 2011 were victims of attacks by the Taliban, according to an annual UN report released in February.—AFP