Motorbike bomber kills 20 on Afghan border

A suicide bomber on a motorbike killed 20 people and wounded more than 20 others Monday in the Afghan border town of Spinboldak, the deadliest in a recent spate of attacks, the provincial governor said. An unknown man drove his motorbike near a crowd of about 100 people watching a wrestling match at a fair in the town, a key crossing point into southern Pakistan, and detonated explosives strapped to his body, said Kandahar provincial Gov. Asadullah Khalid.

"The wrestling match was about to end when the explosion occurred," Khalid said.

He said the terrorist also perished, and at least five of the injured were listed in serious condition.

Many of the cars, that were parked nearby were damaged, he said. It was third bombing in the province, a former Taliban stronghold, in the past two days, and the bloodiest in a series of about 25 suicide attacks in the past four months.

Khalid claimed the suicide attackers trained in Pakistan.

"These people get training in Pakistan and after training they come to Afghanistan and carry out suicide attacks here," he said. Pakistan denied allegations that it offers sanctuary to Taliban and al-Qaida militants.

Hours before, a bomb hit a convoy of Afghan army trucks loaded with troops in the provincial capital of Kandahar, killing four people and wounding 16.

On Sunday, a suicide car bomb in the same city killed a senior Canadian diplomat and two Afghan civilians and wounded three Canadian troops _ part of a new NATO-led deployment in the volatile south of Afghanistan.

Suicide attacks are a relatively new tactic for militants here and one that has reinforced fears that this country may see more assaults modeled on those in Iraq, reports the AP.

D.M.