Kabul - A suicide attack in western Afghanistan killed 10 civilians and three policemen on Friday, while three other civilians were killed in a roadside blast in the country's eastern region, officials said.

A bomber riding an explosive-laden motorbike targeted a senior police official in Farah, the capital of the western province of the same name Friday morning, Mohammad Faqir Askar, the provincial police chief said.

"The attack killed the targeted policeman, two of his bodyguards and 10 Afghan civilians," Askar told the German Press Agency dpa.

The blast in downtown Farah, which took place close to the governor's office, also injured 30 other people, including several children, he said. The Interior Ministry also confirmed the incident and the death toll in a statement.

The bomber, who was identified by Askar as a member of the Taliban militant group, was torn to pieces in the explosion, the police chief said.

Meanwhile, three civilians - all members of the same family - were killed and another three were injured when their car was blown up by a roadside bomb in an area close to Khost city, the capital of the province of the same name, Tahir Saberi, a senior provincial official said.

The attacks came a day after President Hamid Karzai was sworn in for a second five-year term in Kabul, attended by hundreds of Afghan and foreign dignitaries.

During his inaugural speech, Karzai said his country's security forces would be able to take the lead in anti-insurgent operations in the most volatile regions within three years. He also set a five-year benchmark for Afghan forces to take over the overall security responsibility of the country from more than 100,000 NATO-led international troops stationed in Afghanistan.

Hours after the ceremony ended, a Taliban bomber killed two US soldiers in the southern province of Zabul, while 10 Afghan civilians, including two children, were killed in a similar suicide attack in Uruzgan, another southern province.

Taliban militants, who were forced from power in a US military invasion in late 2001, rely heavily on the use of suicide and roadside attacks as part of their insurgency. (dpa)