Kabul, January 31: At least seven people, including a top government official, were killed and 20 injured in two suicide attacks in Afghanistan Thursday, the police said.
Early in the morning, a suicide bomber blew his car prematurely near a bus of the Afghan National Army in the capital, killing one civilian and injuring two, an official said.

Taliban has claimed responsibility for the attack.

In a deadlier attack hours later in the southern province of Helmand, a suicide bomber exploded his explosives-laden vest inside a mosque, killing the deputy provincial governor and five others. Some 18 worshippers were injured in the blast.

The police confirmed that they had received the body of Hajji Pir Mohammad, among those killed in the explosion, and added that the injured included a four-year-old child.

"We have received six bodies, including the body of Hajji Pir Mohammad, the deputy governor of Helmand province," Nisar Ahmad, an official of Public Health Directorate of Helmand province, said.

Provincial police chief Mohammad Hussain Andiwal said that the attack targeted Hajji Pir, and the attacker hid himself among the worshipers in the mosque.
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