A powerful roadside bomb explosion has left at least seven policemen dead in western Afghanistan, media reports citing local officials said on Tuesday.
Officials said the explosion struck the vehicle carrying the policemen while traveling through the Chashti Shareef district of the western Herat province. The police truck was completely destroyed in the blast.
It is said that the policemen killed in the explosion were entrusted with the responsibility of guarding the strategic Salma dam project. Local media reports indicated that the targeted policemen were on their way to Herat city when their truck was struck by the blast.
No group has claimed responsibility for the bomb attack yet. Nevertheless, local authorities blamed the Afghan Taliban, which has carried out numerous such attacks across the country.
Tuesday's attack came amid preparations by the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) to leave Afghanistan by 2014 end after transferring security responsibilities to the Afghan national army.
The NATO-led forces are presently making efforts to get the Afghan security forces ready and capable of handling local security prior to the coalition troops eventual withdrawal. However, there are wide concerns in the South Asian country about the ability of Afghan security forces to counter the Taliban insurgency without the same level of foreign military assistance and presence.
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