Four killed in Afghan suicide car bomb attack

A suspected suicide car bomb has killed at least three civilians and the bomber himself in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar, officials say. Kandahar Governor Asadullah Khalid said the attacker had rammed his car into a convoy of US and Afghan forces.

At least three US soldiers and four Afghan civilians were injured in the rush-hour attack, reports say. The explosion comes two days after twin car bomb attacks in the capital, Kabul, killed at least eight people.

The blast happened just before 0900 local time (0430 GMT), when a Toyota Corolla laden with explosives drove into an armoured Landcruiser of the US special forces, a senior security official told the BBC. US military spokesman Lt Col Jerry O' Hara confirmed the bombing but said there were no reports of any injuries or damage to the convoy.

An eyewitness, Ghulam Mohammed Haq, said he saw a car ram into a four-wheel-drive vehicle before exploding. "I saw some people being carried away wounded," he said. General Shah Wali, the deputy army commander in Kandahar told the Associated Press that the explosion was "massive".

It is not clear who carried out the attack. This year has already seen several suicide attacks in Afghanistan, including two in the capital.

Wednesday's attack comes after two suspected suicide car bomb attacks in Kabul on Monday killed at least eight people. The Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) said a German soldier was among those killed.

Four others including two Greek soldiers were injured in the incidents. An Afghan was also killed. More than 1,400 people have been killed in violence linked to militants in Afghanistan this year - the worst violence the country has seen since US-led forces ousted the Taleban in late 2001. Most of the violence has been in the south and east of the country, reports BBC news. I.L.