Afghan officials say a roadside bomb has killed a district police chief and two of his bodyguards in southern Afghanistan.

The attack late Sunday took place in Helmand province and killed Garmser district's police chief, Mohammad Saifullah.

Helmand is one of Afghanistan's most violent provinces and sits in the heart of the Taliban's traditional stronghold in the south.

Earlier this year, international forces transferred security control of Helmand's provincial capital, Lashkar Gah, to Afghan forces.

Sunday's attack in Helmand took place the same day that a suicide bomber killed seven people in the northern province of Baghlan.

On Monday, Afghan officials said another suicide attack in Baghlan wounded six police officers. Authorities say the bomber was targeting a local tribal elder.

And NATO said Monday that a combined Afghan and coalition security force killed an Afghan man during a search operation in Badakshan province after the coalition said the man failed to comply with warnings and displayed “hostile intent.”

The joint force was targeting a facilitator with the militant Haqqani network.