Suicide bomber hits Afghan police

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A suicide bomber has blown himself up outside a police headquarters in eastern Afghanistan, killing at least eight people, police have said.

More than 10 others were injured in the blast in the province of Khost, near the border with Pakistan.

Suicide bombings are increasingly being used by Taleban militants in their fight against the Kabul government and its international backers.

Fighting has also been intensifying, particularly in the south.

It is believed most, if not all, of those killed in the Khost bombing were police officers.

Suicide wave

A police witness said a man who was on foot tried to enter the police and when he was stopped by guards, he detonated his explosives.

"I saw him trying to enter the base. Our policemen guarding the gate stopped him and he blew himself right up at the gate. I was just metres (yards) away. Thank God it didn't hit me," the witness told the AFP news agency.

A Taleban commander contacted Reuters news agency to say his insurgents had carried out the attack.

The Taleban have vowed to carry out a wave of suicide attacks in their fight against Afghan and international forces.

Heavy fighting has been taking place in southern Afghanistan, where the US military said American and Afghan troops backed by warplanes killed more than 35 Taleban militants in the southern province of Helmand on Thursday.

Analysts have been predicting an increase in fighting in southern Afghanistan with the end of winter.