Suicide bomber attacks NATO convoy in Afghanistan

A suicide attacker on foot blew himself up near a Nato convoy in southern Afghanistan today, seriously wounding three civilians, while a roadside bomb killed a policeman in the east, officials said.

The latest violence came a day after the US military announced six of its troops were killed in eastern Nuristan province – the most lethal attack in a year that has been the deadliest for foreign forces since the 2001 invasion.

In Helmand province, the suicide bomber detonated himself near the Nato convoy in the town of Gereshk. None of the soldiers were hurt, but three civilian bystanders were critically wounded, said Helmand police chief Mohammad Hussein Andiwal.

Nato’s International Security Assistance Force did not immediately have information on the attack.

Meanwhile in the eastern province of Khost, police patrolling on foot yesterday were hit by a land-mine blast that killed one officer and wounded two civilians, said Wazir Pacha, a spokesman for the provincial police.

Insurgent attacks have risen sharply the last two years, and analysts say the counterinsurgency battle US and Nato forces now face will take a decade or more to win.

More than 5,800 people, mostly militants, have died in insurgency-related violence this year, also a record, according to an AP count based on figures from Western and Afghan officials.

In the attack in Nuristan on Friday, militants ambushed US and Afghan troops with rocket-propelled grenades and gunfire as they returned from a meeting with village elders. Six Americans and three Afghan soldiers were killed and eight US troops were wounded.

The six deaths brought the number of US soldiers killed in Afghanistan this year to at least 101, according to an Associated Press count, surpassing the 93 American troops killed in 2005. About 87 died last year.

Insurgents have launched more than 130 suicide attacks – a record number – in 2007.

Last week a suicide bomber killed 75 people, including 59 children and six members of parliament, in Baghlan province – the deadliest attack since 2001.