Suicide bomber kills six in attack near Afghan mosque

A suicide bomber killed at least six people as they returned from prayers at a mosque in north Afghanistan Sunday on the first day of Muslim holiday Eid al-Adha, officials said.

One policeman was killed while the rest of the dead were civilians, and at least 20 other people were thought to have been wounded in the attack in the city of Baghlan at around 9:30am (0500 GMT).

The blast came two days after Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Omar urged his fighters to avoid civilian casualties in the decade-long Afghan war.

"As a result of the explosion, six people were killed including a police officer," Baghlan police chief Asadullah Shirzad.

Interior ministry spokesman Siddiq Siddiqui in Kabul, though, put the death toll at seven, with 15 wounded.

Siddiqui said there were two suicide bombers involved, one of whom detonated himself and caused the casualties, while the other was arrested by police before he could blow himself up.

The suicide bomber who blew himself up was on foot.

A doctor at the main hospital in Baghlan said 20 wounded people had been admitted.

The attack happened on the first day of the three-day Eid al-Adha holiday in Afghanistan, which is traditionally a time for people to pray and spend time with their family and friends.

The Taliban were not contactable to comment on the attack but Siddiqui said that initial indications suggested the insurgents were behind the attack.

Previously seen as relatively stable, Baghlan has seen an uptick in militant attacks in recent years.

On Friday, the Taliban published a statement on their website attributed to Mullah Omar calling on fighters "to take every step to protect the lives and wealth of ordinary people."

The statement, issued to mark Eid al-Adha, warned of punishments under Islamic sharia law for fighters responsible for civilian deaths.

The United Nations says the number of civilians killed in the Afghan war in the first half of this year rose 15 percent to 1,462, with insurgents behind 80 percent of the deaths.

There are around 140,000 international troops in Afghanistan, mostly from the United States, helping Afghan government forces fight a bloody, Taliban-led insurgency.

Limited withdrawals of foreign troops have already started and all combat forces are due to leave by the end of 2014, although a sizeable training and mentoring mission is expected to remain.