At least 13 people have been killed and 14 others wounded in a suicide bomb attack outside the police headquarters in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar.
A spokesman for the Taliban militia, waging an insurgency against the new US-backed administration, claimed responsibility for the attack.
A spokesman for the Interior Ministry said that seven of the dead were policemen and six were civilians.
It is understood the bomber detonated his explosives during a search as he tried to enter the police compound on a motorcycle.
In a separate attack, four people were killed when a remote-controlled bomb struck a vehicle belonging to Turkish construction company in the western province of Farah.
A Turkish engineer, an Indian and two Afghans were killed in the blast on the Herat-Kandahar highway.
Dozens of people have been killed in a wave of attacks, including 14 suicide blasts, across southern and eastern Afghanistan in recent months.
The upsurge in bloodshed comes as thousands of NATO troops prepare to take over some of the US-led coalition's duties in the country later this year.
