Three killed in Afghanistan suicide car blast

A suicide bomber rammed a car laden with explosives into a convoy carrying Westerners in the main southern city of Kandahar today, killing three Afghan civilians and wounding four others.

The attack came two days after militants used twin suicide car bombs to attack Nato peacekeepers in the capital, Kabul.

Authorities blamed al-Qaida for those blasts, which killed a German peacekeeper and eight Afghans.

The bombings appear to be part of a new campaign by militants to use suicide assailants.

Until two months ago, they were relatively rare in Afghanistan, unlike in Iraq.

But since then, nine such assaults have been used nationwide.

Suspicions of al-Qaida involvement reinforce fears that Osama bin Laden’s terror network has teamed up with its old ally the Taliban, which claimed responsibility for Monday’s attacks.

Dozens of US soldiers cordoned off part of Kandahar city after today’s assault. Smoke was pouring into the sky as cars burned.

The militant rammed his car into a convoy of four-wheel-drives before detonating the explosives, said Mohammed Nasiem Khan, a government spokesman.

No one travelling in the convoy was wounded, but three passers-by were killed and four others injured, he said.

US military spokesman Lt. Col. Jerry O’Hara said initial reports indicated that US-led coalition troops were providing security to the convoy, but no soldiers had been wounded and no equipment damaged.

He said it was not immediately clear who was inside the convoy.

Gen. Shah Wali, the deputy army commander in Kandahar, said the explosion had been “massive”.

Militants have stepped up attacks across Afghanistan this year, killing almost 1,500 people, making it the deadliest since US-led forces ousted the Taliban in 2001 for harbouring bin Laden.

Karzai said he expected the violence to continue.

“Terrorism will remain to affect us, will remain to attack us, for much more time to come,” Karzai told reporters while on a visit to Austria.

“What is important for us right now is to continue to … strengthen democratic institutions.”

Asked about the suspected link between al-Qaida and the Taliban, Karzai said the two groups never ceased to co-operate.

“It’s the same thing – it’s terrorists,” he said.