Afghan police say a suicide bomber has killed at least nine people and wounded some 30 others at a bazaar in western Afghanistan.
Police chief Khalil Andarabi said the attack targeted the head of the Faryab provincial council, Mullah Rahmatullah Turkistani, who was injured in the blast.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai condemned the attack, describing it as an "anti-Islamic" act.
Karzai also stressed that it wouldn't stop his government's efforts to promote peace an stability in the country.
Also today, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said six foreign soldiers had been killed in Afghanistan in the past two days in insurgent attacks and by roadside bombs.
The nationalities of the soldiers were not revealed.
According to an independent casualties count, the deaths bring to 622 the number of foreign soldiers to die in the Afghan war so far this year.
compiled from agency reports