US civilian contractor killed in Afghan blast

KABUL, May 18 (Reuters) A suicide car bomber attacked a convoy in the western Afghan city of Herat today, killing himself and a U.S.

citizen, police said.

The US embassy in Kabul said the dead American was a civilian State Department contractor, training Afghan police.

''We can confirm a US citizen ... has been killed,'' said embassy spokesman Chris Harris.

The cause of the blast was belived to have been a car bomb but that was still being investigated, Harris said.

The Herat provincial police chief said earlier a suicide bomber had attacked a military convoy and the dead American was a soldier.

Harris said it was a civilian convoy.

Two Afghans, a soldier and an interpreter had been wounded, the police chief said.

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