Nine Afghans were injured as a suicide bomber blew himself up in Zabul's provincial capital Qalat 340 south of Afghan capital Kabul on Saturday, Interior Ministry confirmed in a statement released.

"A suicide bomber riding a motorbike blew his explosive device up next to police in Qalat city at around 09:30 a.m. local time leaving nine civilians injured," the statement added.

A 10-year old child is also among those injured in the blast, the statement said.

Earlier, deputy to Zabul's provincial administration Mohammad Jan Rasoulyar in talks with Xinhua said, "The blast happened at 09:45 a.m. local time when provincial police chief Mohammad Nabi Ilham was on his way to office."

Police chief Nabi Ilham, who escaped unhurt, also said the nine people injured were all civilians.

There were no casualties on police, the police chief stressed.

This is the second attack against police in the southern region of Afghanistan in a single day on Saturday.

In the previous attack, a bomb blast targeted police in the neighboring Helmand province but caused no loss of life, according to police.