Afghans die in suicide attack

AFGHANISTAN KANDAHAR: Four Afghan civilians were killed on Monday when a suicide car bomber hit a NATO-led convoy in southern Afghanistan, a hospital doctor and witnesses said.

Several foreign soldiers were wounded in the blast on a road several miles (kilometres) from Kandahar airport, a provincial official said.

The airport is a key base for a major offensive by Afghan and foreign forces launched in neighbouring Helmand province two weeks ago to retake the town of Marjah from the Taliban.

The Afghan civilians were killed after they pulled their car over on the side of the road, a common act in rural areas to allow convoys of foreign forces to pass, witnesses said.

“Four civilians were killed and one wounded in the attack,” said Mohammad Ibrahim, a doctor in a hospital in Kandahar.

Foreign troops cordoned off the road leading to the site of the strike, witnesses said, adding that a coalition helicopter evacuated the wounded foreign soldiers.

A bridge close to where the attack took place was badly damaged, a Reuters camerman and reporter said.

In a statement on their website, the Taliban claimed responsibility, saying at least 11 foreign soldiers were killed in the strike.

A spokesman for the NATO-led force confirmed a blast had hit a convoy but had no further details.