Suicide bomber kills police in Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan, June 17 (UPI) -- At least 35 police officers were killed Sunday by a suicide bomber who boarded their bus in Kabul, Afghanistan.

The bus was loaded and about to leave for a regularly scheduled trip to the police academy, CNN reported.

The attack near the office of the police chief blew the roof off the bus in an explosion heard throughout central Kabul.

Police are targeted by insurgents because they are seen as tools of the U.S.-backed government of President Hamid Karzai, CNN said.

The blast in Kabul came the same day a coalition soldier was killed by a rocket-propelled grenade during combat operations in the Uruzgan Province in southern Afghanistan, CNN reported.