A suicide bomber in a Toyota Corolla blew himself up beside a convoy of Nato troops in Kandahar this morning, killing three civilians and wounding nine others, the provincial governor's spokesman said.
The Nato-led International Security Assistance Force said no service members were killed in the attack, which was large enough to cause substantial damage to nearby buildings and leave a large crater in the road.
It wounded 12 bystanders, three of whom died soon after from their wounds, the spokesman said. Nine others are receiving treatment.
The convoy on the Kandahar-Spin Boldak highway was near a small bazaar, with a mosque and gas station, when the attack happened.
The insurgency raging across Afghanistan, which will soon be heading into its tenth year, is bloodier than it has ever been, despite the presence of 150,000 foreign troops.
The southern part of the country, birthplace of the Taliban, is particularly insecure, although violence has spread to previously quiet parts of the country.
US president Barack Obama, who will conduct a strategy review of the increasingly unpopular war in December, aims to begin a gradual withdrawal of US troops from July 2011 if conditions allow.
Reuters