A remote controlled bomb struck a police vehicle on a joint patrol with NATO forces in southeastern Afghanistan Thursday, killing six policemen.

The Afghan police and NATO soldiers were patrolling in Yaqobi district of Khost province early in the morning when the bomb exploded, destroying a police vehicle, provincial police spokesman Wazir Badshah said.

Five police were killed on the spot and one was severely wounded who later died at a NATO hospital in the province, he said.

Khost, which shares a long and porous border with Pakistan, sees many militant attacks linked to a raging Taliban insurgency.

Badshah blamed the attack on the "enemies of Afghanistan" a term often used by the Afghan officials to refer to the Taliban militants.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the bomb blast in a telephone call from an undisclosed location.

"We destroyed a police car today in a bomb blast. Six police were killed," Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said.

Badshah said there were no casualties to the NATO troops from the blast.

Taliban fighters, who have waged a campaign of violence since their ouster from power in late 2001, are most active in south and southeastern Afghanistan.

PHOTO CAPTION

An Afghan police officer patrols with NATO soldiers in Ghazni, June 2007. (AFP)

Reuters (summarized)