Suicide blast at Afghan police HQ

Suicide blast at Afghan police HQ

A suicide car bomber struck outside police headquarters in the southern Afghan city of Lashkar Gah, officials said that’s Twelve policemen and a child were killed.

The attack came days after control of security in the city, the capital of Helmand province, passed from British to Afghan forces as part of a process that will see all foreign combat troops leave Afghanistan by the end of 2014.

Experts question the ability of Afghan soldiers and police to protect their country against attacks from the Taliban, who claimed responsibility for the latest blast, and other insurgents.

The interior ministry confirmed the death toll and vowed the attack would not prevent the police from battling the Taliban, leaders of a 10-year insurgency raging across the country.

In a statement on their website, the Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack in Helmand, one of the most dangerous provinces in Afghanistan and a key focus of the war for international troops.

The Taliban also claimed responsibility for that attack in a statement. Anti-government forces frequently target convoys supplying the foreign and Afghan militarizes.

Army steps up in Syrian

Army steps up in Syrian  Homs campaign

A focal point for pro-democracy protests, activists and residents said that’s the Syrian army stepped up its military operation in the central city of Homs.

‘There are casualties and many people have been arrested. We are very scared,’ a resident in Homs, who asked to be referred to only by his first name, Ahmed.

‘There is heavy military deployment in Homs; military checkpoints are everywhere in the city. There is heavy shooting in Bab Sbaa, one house was burned and the humanitarian conditions are dire,’ the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said in a statement.

It is hard to verify witness accounts as Syrian authorities have expelled most international media organisations.

Syrian authorities blame armed groups with Islamist links for violence across the country and say at least 500 policemen and soldiers have been killed since March.