KANDAHAR, Jan 5: A suicide bomber killed at least 10 people and wounded 50 in an attack in an Afghan provincial capital on Thursday during a visit by the US ambassador, officials said. The envoy was unhurt.

Fifteen of the wounded were critically hurt in the incident in Tarin Kot, capital of the central province of Uruzgan, said Haji Abdul Aziz, the deputy provincial governor.

He said the attack took place in a bazaar about 1.5 km from the Governor’s House, which US ambassador Ronald E. Neumann was visiting.

“I can confirm that it was a suicide attack, but the person had used explosives attached to his body, not a car bomb as we thought earlier,” he said.

Mr Aziz said all of the victims were civilians, except for two policemen who were wounded. He said Neumann was with top local officials for the inauguration of a US-funded building, but none of them was hurt.

Qari Mohammad Yousuf, a spokesman for Taliban insurgents, said a local Taliban called Abdur Rahim carried out the attack.

“Our intention was to kill the US ambassador,” he said by satellite phone from an undisclosed location.

Earlier on Thursday, Afghan security forces blew up a car packed with explosives they believe was intended for an attack on US-led forces in the southern town of Spin Boldak on the Pakistani border, police said.—Reuters