Roadside blast kills five, wounds 25 in southern Afghan city

A roadside explosion rocked the southern Afghan city of Kandahar today, killing a reported five people and wounding at least 25, some seriously, as US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice made her first visit to the country, police said.

Dr Azizullah Jan at Kandahar’s Mirwais hospital said four men and one child were killed, and 32 others wounded.

A bomb blast hit a taxi carrying four women and two children, and injured others sitting in a nearby restaurant in the Ahazrat Jibaba area of the city, said deputy provincial police chief Gen. Salim Khan. Rice was in the capital, Kabul, about 280 miles to the north.

American and Romanian forces based in Kandahar cordoned off the busy commercial area, which is crowded with shops and restaurants. The shoes and turbans of the wounded were scattered on the bloodstained street. The taxi, a three-wheeled tuk-tuk and two motorbikes were badly damaged by the blast.

Khan said at least 25 people were wounded in all, many of the them seriously, and they had been taken to hospital for treatment.

The explosion came as Rice made her first visit to Afghanistan during a six-country tour of Asia and held talks with President Hamid Karzai. Their discussions were expected to focus on the war against terrorism and fighting the booming Afghan narcotics trade.

The US has about 17,000 forces hunting al Qaida and Taliban rebels in southern and eastern Afghanistan. Kandahar was the main stronghold of the hard-line Taliban regime before it was ousted in a US-led offensive in late 2001.

Naimat Khan, who was sitting inside a roadside restaurant when the blast happened, said he helped put wounded people in passing vehicles and sent them to hospital.

“Many people sitting outside were seriously wounded,” he told The Associated Press. “Some people were covered in blood. I saw one man with his hand cut off from his body.”

Police said the blast went off as the taxi travelled down the street, taking the women and children to a Muslim shrine. All six passengers were badly hurt.

Hundreds of bystanders gathered at the scene as American forces searched the area of the blast.