Afghan roadside bombing kills five

At least five people including a former senator were killed on Saturday when a roadside bomb ripped through a pickup truck in the southern Afghan province of Uruzgan, an official said.

Four policemen were among the dead in the blast that struck the Dah Yak area of the province, provincial spokesman Sayed Hamdard told AFP.

"A roadside bomb hit a pickup truck in Dah Yak, killing Haji Khairo (a former senator) and four policemen," he said.

But Gulab Khan, the security chief of the province said the dead included the senator, a tribal elder and two bodyguards.

No one has so far claimed responsibility for the attack.

Roadside bomb attacks make up a greater proportion of the violence in the 10-year long stubborn insurgency waged by Taliban militants after their ouster from power by a US-led invasion in 2011.

Afghan government forces are fighting a bloody war against a decade-long, Taliban-led insurgency with the help of around 130,000 international troops stationed in Afghanistan.

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