Kabul, Dec 29 (Xinhua) Sixteen people have been killed and 58 others wounded in a suicide car bomb attack in Afghanistan’s eastern Khost province, officials said.The incident took place Sunday morning when a suicide bomber detonated his explosives laden car near a police station in the province.

“Sixteen people were killed and 58 others wounded in the blast,” a statement of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), said.

Officials said Taliban leader Jalaludin Haqani’s faction was responsible for the attack.

Haqani had served as a minister and chief of the army staff during the Taliban rule in the country.

Taliban has not yet claimed responsibility for the attack.

Denouncing the car bomb attack, Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai said the enemies of Afghanistan have carried out the blast, “in another un-Islamic act, killing many innocent civilians in Khost”.

Karzai extended his sympathies to the relatives of the dead.

More than 5,000 people have been killed in insurgency related violence in Afghanistan this year.