A suicide bomber targeted police in Afghanistan's southern Uruzgan province Monday morning killing 21 policemen and injuring eight others, police officials said.

Juma Gul Humat, the provincial police chief, told Xinhua that the bloody incident occurred in Trinkot, the provincial capital of Urzgan, when personnel of a police unit had gathered for morning training.

"A terrorist entered the training center and blew himself up," Humat added.

Meanwhile, the deputy police chief Mohammad Ghulab Wardak put the number of death as 21 adding eight more were also wounded in the blast.

Qari Yusuf Ahmadi, the purported Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility for the attack, saying "one Taliban fighter exploded himself among the police personnel who were training."

This is the second suicide attack in the militancy-plagued Afghanistan over the past two days.

In the previous attack, which shocked capital city Kabul on Sunday, at least four persons were injured.

Conflicts and Taliban-linked insurgency left over 5,000 people dead in 2008.

(Xinhua News Agency February 2, 2009)