QUETTA, Sept 22: A senior Afghan official and his three bodyguards were killed when a landmine exploded in the Regh area of southern Afghanistan on Monday.

The Afghan authorities confirmed that Haji Noor Mohammad Ulaswal, Commissioner of Regh area of the border district of Spin Boldak, was killed when his official vehicle hit a landmine on the road to Kandahar.A spokesman for the Taliban Movement Afghanistan, Qari Yousuf, claimed responsibility for the killing.

“The landmine which exploded in the Regh area had been planted by the Taliban,” he told reporters on phone from an unspecified place.

In another incident, a would-be suicide bomber was killed when he tried to blow himself up near a convoy of Nato forces on the Chaman-Kandahar Highway in Spin Boldak.

The Afghan authorities said that Nato forces signalled a vehicle to stop but its driver tried to come close to their convoy. The Nato soldiers opened fire and killed the man.

Qari Yousuf said that the suicide attempt also had been planned by the Taliban.