Mirwais Afghan

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, June 15 (Reuters) A powerful bomb tore apart a minibus carrying Afghan labourers to a US military base in on Thursday, killing about 10 amid growing violence before NATO takes over from US troops in the volatile south.

Three shops were destroyed and twisted metal and a large pool of blood covered the street at the scene of the attack which occurred during rush hour in the southern city of Kandahar, the heartland of the Taliban.

It was the latest incident in the worst wave of violence since US-led forces toppled the Taliban in in 2001.

''It was a big explosion. We don't know if the explosives were in the minibus or not,'' said a policeman at the scene, Raaz Mohammad. ''We have seen more than 10 dead people with legs and hands blown off being brought out of the bus.'' Kandahar police chief Azizullah Wardak said the blast was caused by explosives apparently hidden in the bus.

He said he knew of at least seven dead.

The bomb went off soon after the bus made a regular stop to buy bread at a bakery, before heading to Kandahar airport where US and international forces have a base, said baker Esmatullah.

Three shops were destroyed. Nervous shopkeepers cleared rubble from the street where a pool of blood and pieces of flesh lay.

Azizullah said the blast was the work of ''Afghanistan's enemies'', a term officials use to refer to the Taliban and their al Qaeda allies.

The Taliban claimed responsibility.

''It is our success. It shows that we have access to even highly-guarded government places and we can do whatever we want,'' a Taliban commander, Mullah Hayat Khan, told Reuters.

More than 900 people have been killed in violence in Afghanistan this year -- almost half of them in May alone.

The insurgents have been copying the tactics of rebels in Iraq with a wave of suicide bombings. Iraqi insurgents have also launched countless attacks on people working for US and other foreign forces.

The Taliban, fighting to expel foreign forces and defeat the Western-backed government, were ousted in late 2001 after refusing to hand over Osama bin Laden.

REUTERS SRS VC1338