KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, July 31, (Agencies): Twelve policemen and a child were killed Sunday when a suicide car bomber struck outside police headquarters in the southern Afghan city of Lashkar Gah, officials said. The attack came days after control of security in the city, the capital of Helmand province, passed from British to Afghan forces as part of a process that will see all foreign combat troops leave Afghanistan by the end of 2014. Some experts question the ability of Afghan soldiers and police to protect their country against attacks from the Taleban, who claimed responsibility for the latest blast, and other insurgents. The interior ministry confirmed the death toll and vowed the attack would not prevent the police from battling the Taleban, leaders of a 10-year insurgency raging across the country. “Twelve Afghan National Police members and a child were martyred and 12 other Afghan National Police members were wounded (along with) two civilians,” it said in a statement.

“The Ministry of Interior strongly condemns the insurgents (behind) this un-Islamic and inhumane action and such attacks will never weaken the determination of Afghan National Police.” The blast happened at around 8:30 am (0400 GMT) in front of the heavily-secured police headquarters as Afghan police left to go on a patrol, a statement from the governor’s office added. In a statement on their website, the Taleban claimed responsibility for the attack in Helmand, one of the most dangerous provinces in Afghanistan and a key focus of the war for international troops. “A large number of policemen were gathered and a hero of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan struck and exploded his vehicle laden with explosives,” the statement said. The attack came as an official said 10 Afghan security guards were killed in central Afghanistan Saturday in an attack on a convoy carrying supplies to international troops.

The US military is meanwhile waiting to see whether some Taleban leaders take a break during August for Ramadan, crossing over the border into Pakistan after several weeks of high profile attacks. “There’s an awful lot of discussion about the Taleban leadership leaving their fighters here, and particularly to go back across the border for Ramadan,” Admiral Mike Mullen, the top US military officer, referring to talks he had with US commanders in Kandahar and Helmand provinces. “We’ll see whether they do that or not,” he told reporters travelling with him in Afghanistan. The Muslim fasting month of Ramadan will start on Monday in Afghanistan. It is a lunar month, but this year coincides almost exactly with the month of August on the Gregorian calendar used in most of the West.

The military assessment about Taleban movements follows a string of high-profile attacks and assassinations that have shaken southern Afghanistan. The strikes have been particularly acute in Kandahar province, the Taleban’s birthplace. A suicide bomber killed the mayor of Kandahar on Wednesday, compounding fears of a dangerous power vacuum in Afghanistan’s south in the wake of the assassination of President Hamid Karzai’s half-brother, Ahmad Wali Karzai. Mullen acknowledged a degree of political instability because of the assassinations but added US commanders had not reported a deterioration in day-to-day security in Kandahar.