A suicide bomber has blown himself up inside a mosque in southern Afghanistan, killing Helmand province's deputy governor and 5 others.

The bomber struck Helmand province's capital of Lashkar Gah, said provincial police chief Mohammad Hussein Andiwal.

Helmand's deputy governor, Pir Mohammad, was killed in the blast, said Nisar Ahmad, a provincial health official.

The blast killed five other people and wounded 18, Ahmad said.

Helmand is the center of world's opium and heroin production and focus of intense clashes between militants and British, American and Afghan government forces.

The mosque blast happened hours after another suicide bomber in a car targeted an Afghan army bus in Kabul, killing one civilian and wounding four other people, officials said.

ABZ/PA