The FINANCIAL -- A suicide-bomber in southern Afghanistan has blown himself up while putting on a vest filled with explosives, a spokesman for provincial administration said, according to RIA Novosti.

The explosion occurred in a private house in the town of Gereshk in the Helmand Province on March 17 night.

"The blast also wounded a child," Daud Ahmadi said.

Helmand is known to be a major Taliban stronghold and much of the fighting between NATO and Taliban forces is taking place in this province.

Violence surged in the war-ravaged Central Asian state in 2009, with the Taliban staging regular attacks on provincial government officials, police and civilians and planting roadside devices as part of its fight to regain control of the country.

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