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Funcinpec and the Norodom Ranariddh Party signed an agreement Monday pledging joint cooperation in local elections set for May.

The declaration between the two royalist parties comes amid internal strife for the Norodom Ranariddh Party, as two factions vied for control of the party over the weekend and 18 people were fired.

The agreement with Funcinpec President Keo Puthreaksmey was signed by NRP President Chhim Seakleng.

“Unity and cooperation between the two parties is very interesting for our two parties in the May election, and the cooperation will increase the [council] seats of the two parties,” Keo Puthreaksmey told reporters Monday.

The two parties vowed to set up a joint working group to prepare cooperation in structure and strategy to add votes from commune council members for decentralized district and provincial councils, as well as a Phnom Penh council.

“We strongly believe that cooperation will go smoothly toward the May election,” Funcinpec Secretary-General Nhiek Bunchhay said.

By joining support, the parties will have more sway over the May elections because they can combine commune council votes.

If the parties did not join for the election, he said, Funcinpec would only win three council seats in the provinces and only 35 in the districts. But by joining, the two together would win 13 provincial seats and 105 district seats.

“We can gather the votes from commune councils,” said NRP Secretary-General You Hokry said.

The announcement comes after a major shake-up within the NRP over the weekend, when 18 members were fired for insulting the party’s founder, Prince Norodom Ranariddh. The prince, meanwhile, has asked the party to no longer use his name or image. You Hokry said Monday the internal problems were resolved following the law.

Officials in southern Afghanistan say a suicide bomber has attacked a police training center, killing at least 25 officers and wounding 20 others. A Taliban spokesman claims responsibility for the blast.

Officials in Tirin Kot, the provincial capital of Uruzgan province, say the bomber entered the city's police training compound while a group of officers was exercising.

Local officer Gulab Khan says officials are still trying to tally the casualties from the attack, hours after the explosion. He says the suicide bomber was wearing a police uniform when he entered the training compound. He says the attacker then detonated his bomb, killing 19 police, at the scene.

Officials say other officers are in serious condition.

A Taliban spokesman called local and foreign news outlets, soon after the attack, claiming responsibility.

The Afghan Defense Ministry later released a statement saying security forces arrested three suspected suicide bombers in Uruzgan province. The statement says the suspects were found with suicide jackets, outfitted with explosives.

Southern Afghanistan remains a stronghold of the Taliban and the center of the country's massive opium industry. United Nations officials estimate seven provinces in the south, including Uruzgan, account for 98 percent of the country's total opium poppy crop in 2008.

The opium trade is believed to be an important source of income for militants and helps fuel widespread corruption, throughout the Afghan government.

The region is mainly patrolled by Canadian, British, Dutch and Australian troops, but American commanders have recommended that some of the more than 20,000 additional U.S. troops expected in the coming months are sent to the south.

This year, the United Nations estimates smugglers exported about $3.5 billion in opium, earning Taliban militants as much as $500 million. But overall opium production is lower than in 2007, which U.N. analysts mainly attribute to low opium prices and high wheat prices. Officials say the overproduction of opium, in recent years, led to a 20 percent decrease in price this year.