KABUL, August 3 (RIA Novosti) - Twelve people died and more than 20 were wounded in a terrorist attack in western Afghanistan on Monday, a local police spokesman said.

A remote-controlled bomb was set off in a busy area of central Herat, the regional capital.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack. Spokesman Raouf Ahmedi told the Associated Press that Mohammad Issa, the police chief of the nearby Injil district, had been the target of the blast. Issa was hospitalized in critical condition.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai condemned the bombing, calling it "another attempt by the terrorists to disrupt democracy and development in Afghanistan."