Burqa Bomber Attacks in Afghanistan

No limit to their evil.

A suicide bomber disguised in a burqa detonated a blast in a bazaar in western Afghanistan on Thursday, killing 18 police and civilians, in the bloodiest suicide attack in weeks, officials said.

Twenty-two people were wounded in the blast, which happened near a police station in the Del Aram district of Farah province. The policemen were inspecting vehicles on the road outside at the time.

"So far, 18 people, including police and civilians, have been killed," Farah's governor Rohul Amin told Reuters by phone.

Citing officials near the site, Amin said the bomber was wearing the all-enveloping burqa robe that Afghan women commonly wear.

President Hamid Karzai who has been leading Afghanistan since Taliban's removal, condemned the attack and said it was "obscene" that the bomber had used a burqa a disguise.

"The enemies of Afghanistan, by misusing the women's veil, put on display their unmanhood," a palace statement quoted him as saying.