Suicide Bomber Targets Crowded Afghan Market

Afghan policemen investigate at the site of an attack after a suicide bomber blew himself up at a crowded marketplace in Mazar-e Sharif on August 9.

Police in Afghanistan say a suicide attack in a crowded market in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif has killed at least one person and wounded more than a dozen.

Munir Ahmad Farhad, the provincial governor's spokesman, said the attacker had explosives strapped to his body.

No group has immediately claimed responsibility for the August 9 attack.

Taliban insurgents have intensified attacks across the country in their efforts to overthrow the Kabul government.

However, Mazar-i-Sharif, an important commercial center near the border with Uzbekistan, has generally been spared the violence.

The UN mission in Afghanistan says more than 1,000 civilians have been killed in the first half of this year, most of them by the insurgency, now in its 15th year.

Based on reporting by AP and Reuters