At least 17 people died, with over 20 injured when a blast inside a public bathhouse in southern Afghanistan occurred on Friday, local media said.
"We do not know whether it was a suicide attack. All we know at this stage is that there was an explosion inside the bathhouse and we are investigating," a spokesman for the governor, Zalmai Ayoubi, was quoted by Aljazeera.
The blast occurred in the town of Spin Boldak in Afghani Kandahar province on the border with Pakistan, when a suicide bomber blew up explosives strapped to his chest.
An investigation is ongoing.
Violence has surged in Afghanistan in recent months, with the Taliban group, which was toppled in a 2001 U.S.-led campaign, staging regular attacks on provincial government officials, police and civilians and planting roadside bombs to target Afghan, U.S. and NATO troops.
MOSCOW, January 7 (RIA Novosti)
