KABUL, May 27 (Xinhua) -- A roadside bombing attack on a police vehicle left three policemen and one civilian passer-by dead Tuesday morning in Logar province of eastern Afghanistan, an official said.

    The police car was struck by a roadside bomb at around 7:30 a.m. local time in Charkh district, Mustafa Hussaini, provincial police chief, told Xinhua. "Taliban militants planted the bomb."

    In a related development, local people Tuesday staged a demonstration in Pul-e-Alam, the provincial capital of Logar, chanting anti-U.S. and anti-west slogans, a day after foreign troops killed a religious leader named Mullah Malik in the region.

    Elsewhere, eight civilian passengers were killed as a roadside bomb struck a mini-bus in Afghanistan's western Farah province Tuesday.

    Bombing attacks are on the rise in Afghanistan, where insurgency-related conflicts and violence left 8,000 people dead last year.

    Militants in bombing attacks on Afghan government and Afghan-based foreign troops frequently cause civilian casualties.