1st LD: 8 killed in car bombing attack on police station in S. Afghanistan

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, Dec. 22 (Xinhua) -- At least eight people were killed and many others wounded after a Taliban suicide car bombing struck a district police station in Afghanistan's southern province of Kandahar, local police said Friday.

"The attack occurred late Thursday night after a Taliban suicide bomber drove a hijacked explosive-laden military vehicle into the police station in Maywand district. Police manning the front gate fired on the attacker in an effort to intercept the attack but they failed to stop the running vehicle," a police official told Xinhua anonymously.

The official added that the assailant detonated the vehicle at the second gate of the compound, where an Afghan Local Police (ALP) command and control post was also located, and the massive explosion left the casualties and destroyed the ALP building.

The government established the ALP, or community police, in 2010 to protect villages and districts around the country where army and police have limited presence.

Further details about the incident are still forthcoming amid the absence of any official statement.

No group has claimed responsibility yet for the attack, but the Taliban insurgent group routinely claims responsibility for such attacks.

The Taliban militants have used more than five hijacked military vehicles to target security forces in the past couple of months. Enditem