A suicide car bomb near a Canadian convoy in southern Afghanistan killed three bystanders yesterday, while a governor said four policemen and 18 rebels were killed in a battle nearby.More than a dozen civilians were wounded in the Kandahar city blast which was also near a motorcade carrying provincial governor Assadullah Khalid, who has been critical of the Taleban movement rooted in the area. The bomber, driving a four-wheel drive pick-up, detonated his explosives between two vehicles in a coalition patrol, coalition spokesman Major Scott Lundy said. There were no coalition casualties.
The Canadian military said one of its soldiers had suffered minor injuries in a collision between two military vehicles as they were leaving the scene.
The interior ministry said the attacker had killed himself and three civilians, and wounded 13 other Afghans. "It was the work of the enemies of the government," ministry spokesman Yousuf Stanizai said, using a phrase that generally refers to the Taleban. The ministry said the governor appeared to have been the target of the attack but he rejected this. "The explosion was in between our convoy and a coalition convoy. The attacker tried to pass us and we let him go -- that means the target was not me, it was the coalition," he said.
President Hamid Karzai "ordered the security forces to pursue and punish those behind the brutal attack," his office said in a statement.
The blast shattered the windows of several businesses and at least one shop caught fire, witnesses said. There were body parts at the scene of the blast.
Meanwhile four policemen and 18 Taleban were killed on Saturday in a battle that erupted after the rebels attacked a police post in Kandahar province, governor Khalid told reporters. Police in the province also captured two men accused of rigging up car bombs and three militants suspected of attacks on police posts, he said.
The coalition reported meanwhile it had captured an insurgent suspected of building bombs in a cave near the Kandahar village of Gumbad, where Canadian forces have a base.
In the western province of Farah, suspected Taleban militants kidnapped four policemen after attacking their station, provincial governor Izatullah Wasifi said.
In the eastern city of Jalalabad, an Afghan soldier was killed by "the enemy" on Saturday while on patrol, security officials said. And five people were arrested after 450 kilogrammes (990 pounds) of explosives were discovered by another patrol near the city, they said.