At least ten policemen were killed and 18 others, mostly civilians, were wounded in a suicide attack today in a crowded area of the northeast Afghan city of Kunduz, provincial authorities said.

"We have 10 dead, including the counter terrorism police chief and head of traffic police and their bodyguards. Eighteen others are wounded, 13 civilians and five policemen," Kunduz police spokesman Sayed Sarwar Hussani told AFP.

The toll was confirmed by provincial governor spokesman Enayatullah Khaleeq.

According to the head of the Kunduz health department, Saad Mukhtar, 19 people in total were wounded in the attack, which police officials said took place around 5:20 pm (12:50 GMT).

There was no claim of responsibility for the bombing, but such attacks have in the past been blamed on Taliban insurgents who are leading an 11-year insurgency against the US-backed government of President Hamid Karzai.

Earlier today, a suicide attack killed two civilians in the southeastern province of Ghazni.

Yesterday, a suicide bomber in a car attacked a NATO convoy in Afghanistan's strategic Kapisa province, killing at least five civilians and wounding 15 others, officials said.