HERAT, Afghanistan, (Reuters) – A suicide bomber in  southwestern Afghanistan killed 17 people yesterday, and an  Afghan lawmaker escaped a separate blast on the outskirts of  Kabul but five of his bodyguards were killed, officials said.

The provincial governor of southwestern Farah province,  Rohul Amin, said a suicide bomber on a motorcycle detonated his  explosives in a crowded area of Farah City, killing 17 people  and wounding 29.

Farah Province Police Chief Faqir Mohammad Askar said the  target of the attack was a senior police official, who was  killed along with two of his bodyguards.

Taliban spokesman Qari Yousuf telephoned Reuters from an  undisclosed location and denied his group had carried out the  Farah raid. “Whenever there are civilian casualties, the Taliban deny  responsibility,” said Amin. “This attack was definitely carried  out by the Taliban.”
In a separate incident, an Afghan parliamentarian and  former mujahideen commander escaped a roadside bomb blast  unhurt on the outskirts of Kabul on Friday, but five of his  bodyguards were killed, said a police official who declined to  be named.

Abdul Rasul Sayyaf, who heads an Islamic political party  and was a prominent anti-Soviet fighter during the Soviet  occupation, was driving in a convoy in Paghman just outside  Kabul when the convoy was hit by a bomb placed under a bridge.