Officials in Afghanistan say a bomb blast has killed at least 8 people, including several police officers. Authorities say the explosion happened Saturday in Arghandab, in the southern province of Kandahar.

NATO said Saturday one of its service members had died in a bomb blast in southern Afghanistan. It was not immediately clear if this referred to the incident in Kandahar or an incident elsewhere in southern Afghanistan.

Kandahar is the birthplace of the Taliban and remains a stronghold of the militants who have been fighting the government of President Hamid Karzai and its Western allies since being ousted from power a decade ago.