A suicide attacker in a vehicle detonated explosives in Helmand province on Wednesday at a police checkpoint, killing nine people--including five security force members and four civilians--and wounding four others, including a child, local officials said.

Omar Zowak, the provincial governor's spokesperson, said the incident happened yesterday evening when a security checkpoint was targeted by a car bomb in the Helmand-Kandahar highway in Nare Saraj district.

Four civilians passing the area were also killed in the attack, Zowak said.

“The victims are two men and two women who were passing the area and were killed due to the car bomb,” Zowak added.

According to Zowak, four others, including a child, were wounded in the attack.

The Taliban have not commented yet.