KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - A car bomb exploded just outside the police headquarters of Kandahar in southern Afghanistan yesterday, killing at least seven people, officials said.
The blast went off at a parking lot outside the police building, said Faisal Ahmad, a spokesman for the provincial government. Five police officers and two civilians were killed, and least 21 people were wounded, he added.
The blast was large enough that it shattered windows in nearby buildings. It appeared the bomb was in a parked vehicle and was remotely detonated, said Zalmai Ayubi, another government spokesman.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.
Although the international military coalition in Afghanistan has poured resources into Kandahar city and its vicinity in recent years as part of a push to take back insurgent strongholds, the area has remained dangerous and there have been repeated attacks against government installations.
The United Nations reported on Saturday that 2011 was the deadliest on record for civilians in the Afghan war, with 3,021 killed as insurgents ratcheted up violence with suicide attacks and roadside bombs. Civilian deaths from military or other progovernment forces decreased slightly.
Afghanistan's largest insurgent movement, the Taliban, said yesterday that the report was "biased.'' In an e-mailed statement, Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid accused the United Nations of falsifying the figures.
The commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, General John Allen, said the report reflected the effort the international coalition has put into decreasing civilian casualties.
In the north, Afghan police said that an American soldier shot and killed an Afghan guard at a US base, apparently because the American thought the guard was about to attack him.
There have been a growing number of attacks by Afghan soldiers against international forces in Afghanistan in recent years, some the result of arguments and others by insurgent infiltrators. Last month, an Afghan soldier shot and killed four unarmed French troops at a base in eastern Afghanistan.
Friday's shooting in Sari Pul Province resulted from a misunderstanding, said Sayed Jahangir, the deputy police chief for the province.