Since the beginning of this year's fighting season, the Taliban have expanded their footprint across most of the province and have been at the gates of the city of Lashkar Gah, the provincial capital, for weeks.
According to Haji Marjan, the police chief of Nad Ali district who has been deployed to the provincial capital, the explosion happened around 11.30 a.M., after the Taliban earlier targeted police checkpoints across the city.
A doctor at the international emergency hospital in Lashkar Gah said 14 bodies had been brought to the clinic. Speaking on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak to the media, the physician said 15 wounded were also brought in, including 14 who were victims of the car bombing and one person who suffered gunshot wounds.
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Abdul Majeed Akhonzada, the deputy director of Helmand's provincial council, said the militants entered the city after breaching the Afghan forces' "defense security belt."
A Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, said the insurgents were advancing through Lashkar Gah.
Helmand is strategically important for the Taliban as it is the main source of the country's opium output, worth an estimated USD 4 billion a year, much of which funds the war.
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