Suicide attacker wounds three Americans in Afghanistan

A suicide attacker in a car exploded a bomb in southern Afghanistan today, slightly wounding two US service members and one US civilian contractor.

The attacker died in the morning attack in Lashkargah, the main town in Helmand province, the US military said in a statement.

The provincial police chief initially reported that a British vehicle was damaged in the attack, but the Ministry of Defence said the bombing happened near a US convoy and no British troops were involved.

The bomb went off outside the main gate of a so-called provincial reconstruction team base, destroying the attacker’s vehicle, the US statement said. British personnel operate the base.

It said the three wounded Americans suffered minor injuries and Afghan police were investigating the attack.

Helmand is a hub of Afghanistan’s drug trade and Taliban rebellion.

Yesterday, a British parliamentary committee warned that the British forces would face a deteriorating security situation when thousands more deploy there in June, heading a Nato-led mission in the south.