AT LEAST SEVEN people have been killed by a car bomb in Kandahar, southern Afghanistan.

The bomb exploded at a car park near a police building in the city, according to provincial government spokesperson Faisal Ahmad.

Five police officers and two civilians have been killed, and another 21 people have been injured.

Another government spokesperson said that the bomb appeared to have been held in a parked vehicle and was detonated remotely.

NATO forces helped secure the area as Afghan police carried the wounded to ambulances and loaded the bodies of the dead into a truck. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.

The UN reported yesterday that last year was the deadliest on record for civilians in the Afghan war, with 3,021 killed as insurgents ratcheted up violence with suicide attacks and roadside bombs. Civilian deaths from military or other pro-government forces decreased slightly.

Afghanistan’s largest insurgent movement, the Taliban, said today that the UN report was “biased.”

In an emailed statement, Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid accused the UN of falsifying the figures.