Deadly blast hits Afghan market

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A suicide attack in south Afghanistan has killed at least 21 people, many of them children, police say.

The bomb was detonated in a market in the Deh Rawud district of Uruzgan province at about 1030 local time.

Provincial police chief Jumma Gul told the BBC that a suicide bomber on a motorbike had struck a police vehicle.

The past few months have seen an increase in insurgent attacks. A local official, quoted by Reuters, blamed Taleban fighters for the latest attack.

Officials said four of those killed in the Uruzgan attack were policemen.

Several shops were reported to have been destroyed by the blast.

The BBC's Martin Patience in Kabul says no group has yet claimed responsibility for the blast but the Taleban are known to be active in the area.

Local government officials have been attacked by the Taleban in the past.

Aid agencies have expressed concern about the rising civilian death toll in Afghanistan.