The death toll from Sunday's suicide car bomb in Afghan Helmand province has risen to 11 with 12 others injured, a local official said.

Smoke and flames rise at the site of a car bomb explosion in Lashkar Gah, capital of Helmand province, Afghanistan, in the TV grab taken on July 31, 2011. The death toll from Sunday's suicide car bomb in Afghan Helmand province has risen to 11 with 12 others injured, a local official said. (Xinhua/Arghand)
"Our latest reports said that 11 people including 10 policemen and one child were killed in a suicide car bomb explosion in provincial capital Lashkar Gah that occurred at around 08:30 a.m. Sunday," Daud Ahmadi, spokesman for the provincial government told Xinhua.

Ahmadi said 12 more people including nine police and three civilians were wounded in the attack that took place near the provincial police department in the province 555 km south of capital Kabul.

The powerful blast also damaged several police vehicles and government agency buildings around.

The Taliban-led insurgency has been rampant since the militant group announced to launch the spring offensive from May 1 against Afghan and NATO-led troops stationed in Afghanistan.

Afghan security forces took the control of Lashkar Gah from NATO-led forces on July 20.

Transition of security responsibility began on July 17 and will run to 2014 when Afghanistan is due to take over the full leadership of its own security duties from U.S. and NATO forces.

 VietNamNet/Xinhuanet