KABUL: A suicide car bomber targeting a NATO-sponsored reconstruction team killed four Afghan civilians, including a child, and wounded 31 on Thursday in southern Afghanistan, officials said. Three civilian international members of the aid team - two men and one woman - were among the wounded, a provincial governor spokesman Daud Ahmadi said. He said their injuries were not life threatening and did not know their nationalities.
The bomber detonated his explosives-laden vehicle on Thursday morning as a convoy of a NATO Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) passed by in Lashkar Gah, capital of Helmand province, Ahmadi said. The blast ripped through the convoy of armoured vehicles, knocking at least one over and charring others. The explosion also shredded nearby storefronts and damaged at least 17 civilian cars nearby, a provincial statement said.
Afghan National Army soldier Dad Muhammad witnessed the attack while on patrol in the town. “A car passed our vehicle and parked down the road,” he said. “When the foreigners’ vehicle was passing this road, it was targeted and there was an explosion.”