KANDAHAR, Nov 19: Three people were killed in volatile southern Afghanistan on Saturday when a bomb blew up a car belonging to a former warlord who had laid down his arms, a provincial official said. Militants loyal to Taliban claimed responsibility for the roadside blast in Helmand province.

The unidentified commander was wounded, Helmand spokesman Mohammad Wali said.

The former warlord had been part of a UN disarmament programme launched after the fundamentalist Taliban government was removed by US-led forces in 2,001.

“We blew up the vehicle,” purported Taliban spokesman Yousuf Ahmadi told journalists in a telephone call, accusing the one-time warlord of being too close to the government.

Helmand has seen several attacks linked to a Taliban-led insurgency and to its illegal drugs trade.

The province contributes the most to Afghanistan’s annual crop of around 4,000 tons of opium used to make most of the world’s heroin.

A policeman and a suspected drug runner were killed in a gun battle in the province on Friday after police tried to hold up a five-vehicle convoy of smugglers, provincial governor Sher Mohammad told AFP.

Police seized two tons of opium, several machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades, he said.

Ahmadi also said the Taliban had carried out a suicide attack against US-led forces in the province on Saturday, but neither the coalition force nor the Afghan authorities confirmed the attack.