A roadside bomb struck a convoy of U.S. military vehicles in southern Afghanistan

The explosion, believed detonated remotely, damaged an Afghan vehicle but did not injure anybody, said Abdul Hakim Hunger, deputy police chief of Kandahar, a stronghold of the Afghanistan's former Taliban regime.

The attack was the latest in a series of bombings in Kandahar and came a week after a suicide attack killed 20 people at a wrestling match in a nearby town.

Rising violence in southern Afghanistan, particularly an increase in suicide bombings, has reinforced fears that this country may see more assaults modeled on those in Iraq.

Twenty suicide attacks have rocked Afghanistan since late September, compared with just four in the first nine months of 2005, according to figures compiled by The Associated Press, signaling a tactical shift by Taliban and al-Qaida militants.

Monday's attack occurred near a compound for U.S. Special Forces troops, which patrol the area for militants. Hunger initially identified the convoy as a Canadian, Afghan maneuver, but later said it was comprised of American and Afghan troops, the AP reported.

The convoy had six vehicles, four U.S., two Afghan. The bomb exploded after the U.S. trucks had passed, Hunger said. The military has tightened security in the region as police investigate.

A.M.