Police say a suicide attack in southern Afghanistan has killed an Afghan intelligence officer and wounded at least 24 other people.
Authorities say two bombers detonated their explosives-laden vehicle Thursday in the town of Spin Boldak in Kandahar province, near the Pakistani border. A spokesman for the Afghan intelligence service said intelligence officers acting on suspicions stopped the car before the blast occurred.
The wounded included at least 16 civilians.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai and NATO condemned the attack.
In other violence Thursday, an explosion inside a religious school in the eastern city of Khost killed a cleric.
And NATO says it is opening an investigation into allegations that civilians were killed early Thursday during a coalition operation targeting insurgents in the eastern province of Kapisa.
Thursday's violence comes a day after a senior United Nations official said the security situation in Afghanistan is at its lowest point since the U.S.-led invasion toppled the Taliban government in 2001.