Farah, 20 Nov. (AKI) - At least 13 people including three police officials died on Friday in southwest Afghanistan when a suicide bomber aboard a motorcycle detonated his explosives in a crowded market in southwest Afghanistan. The attack in Farah City, capital of Farah province, also wounded 36 people, five of them critically, local police said.

The target of the attack was a senior police official, who was among those killed in the attack along with two of his bodyguards, according to police. Most of those wounded were civilians, police said.

Farah, a mainly desert province along the border with Iran, has seen a rise in insurgent attacks this year as Taliban militants have become active in new areas and have spread to the west and north from their traditional bases in the south and east.

Amid a spike in violence in Afghanistan, three members of a family were killed and three were wounded on Friday in a roadside bombing in the restive southeastern province of Khost, near the Pakistan border, Afghan news agency Pajhwok reported.

The attacks came a day after president Hamid Karzai was sworn in for a second term as the country's elected leader and said Afghan forces should take control of security across Afghanistan within five years.

This year has been the deadliest for Afghan civilians and international troops since the insurgency began in 2001 when US-led forces ousted the Taliban from power.

In his inaugural speech on Thursday, Karzai also vowed to work for the stabilisation of Afghanistan.