Three civilians and two local police officers were killed and 15 other people injured by a bomb in southern Afghanistan, dpa reported Monday referring to an official.
"The blast took place Sunday night close to a local police checkpoint in Gereshk district of Helmand province," said Dawood Ahmadi, spokesman for the provincial governor.
Local police are government-backed militias who are appointed to assure security in remote areas where the government has little direct control.
The Taliban claimed the responsibility for the attack, and put the death toll higher.
The motorbike carrying the bomb "blew up close to a local police checkpoint in which 15 police were killed and seven were injured," Qari Yousuf Ahmadi, a spokesman for the insurgents said.
The Taliban have recently intensified their attacks in the southern areas.
Eighteen civilians and five policemen were killed in separate attacks on Sunday in Helmand and neighbouring Kandahar provinces.
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