At least ten civilians were killed and another eight injured in a suicide bomb attack by Taliban militants in southern Afghanistan, regional authorities said on Sunday.

The bomb attack was carried out on Sunday in the Gereshk district of the Helmand province when the suicide bomber blew himself up in a crowd of local residents celebrating the Afghan New Year, the authorities said.

Measures are currently under way to investigate the circumstances of the incident, the authorities said.

Violence has surged in Afghanistan in recent months, with the radical Islamic Taliban group, which was toppled in a 2001 U.S.-led campaign, staging regular attacks on provincial government officials, police and civilians and planting roadside bombs to target Afghan, U.S. and NATO troops.

The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and a separate U.S.-led coalition, involved in Operation Enduring Freedom, have a total of 120,000 troops in Afghanistan.

U.S. President Barack Obama has pledged to send an additional 30,000 soldiers to the war-ravaged country in the first part of 2010 to defeat the Taliban and establish law and order. Other NATO members have said they will send 7,000 additional troops to Afghanistan.

KABUL, March 21 (RIA Novosti)