A suicide attacker blew himself up in Uruzgan province south of Afghanistan Thursday killing 16 people including the attacker and injuring 13 others.

"A man tied explosive device in his body blew himself up in a crowded market in Deh Rawad district this afternoon leaving himself and 15 other people dead and 13 others injured," Juma Gul Humat, the provincial police chief, told Xinhua.

Humat said all the victims are civilians.

There are three children among those killed in the blast and two other children are among those sustained injuries, said the official.

He added that there were no police or army personnel on the spot when the blast hit the market.

After the bombing, Afghan and NATO-led troops cordoned off the area and have taken the injured to hospital, the police official said.

President Hamid Karzai in a statement blamed the enemies of Afghanistan, a term used against the Taliban, for launching the bloody bombing and strongly condemned it.

Anti-government militants have stepped up their activities mostly in the form of suicide and roadside bombings as a car bombing shocked Kandahar, the birthplace of Taliban outfit, Wednesday night and a roadside bomb injured five persons in the neighboring Helmand province Thursday morning.

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