Suicide bomber kills Afghan children, UK soldier

LASHKAR GAH, Afghanistan, Oct 19 (Reuters) A suicide bomber killed several civilians, including two children, and a British Marine in an attack on a NATO convoy in southern Afghanistan today, witnesses and officials said.

Bodies of civilians, some with arms and legs blown off, were scattered around the scene and a NATO vehicle was ablaze after the blast in Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand province and a Taliban stronghold, witnesses said.

''The bomber was on foot and hurled himself at the convoy of NATO,'' said Afghan army officer Shamsuddin.

In London, the Ministry of Defence said two Afghan children were killed and seven civilians were wounded.

The ministry also said one Marine was killed and one seriously injured in the attack.

Helmand, the opium capital of the world's largest producer, is one of the country's most violent areas in what is the bloodiest year since the Taliban's strict Islamist government was ousted by a US-led invasion in 2001.

Italian photojournalist Gabriele Torsello was kidnapped last week from a bus on his way from Lashkar Gah to neighbouring Kandahar, the birthplace of the Taliban.

In a call to an Italian-run hospital in Helmand, his kidnappers have demanded Italy surrender an Afghan granted asylum after he was prosecuted in Kabul this year for converting to Christianity from Islam 16 years ago.

Today, the abductors called again to say if Rome refused that demand they wanted all Italian troops out of Afghanistan, the PeaceReporter online newspaper said.

Italy has about 1,300 troops in Afghanistan.

Torsello had been in close contact with the hospital's staff while working in the area before his abduction and has been allowed to speak to staff by phone by his kidnappers.

He was not allowed to speak during the latest call, PeaceReporter, which specialises in conflict cover, said.

Paris-based Reporters Without Borders and Britain's National Union of Journalists have appealed for an international campaign to free the London-based journalist.

''A journalist is neither a spy nor a bargaining chip,'' the two organisations said in a statement.

They said a similar campaign could have saved the life of Italian freelance journalist Enzo Baldoni, who was executed by his kidnappers in Iraq in August 2004.

Also today, a policeman was killed and four injured by a suicide bomber outside the southeastern town of Khost, officials said.

More than 3,000 people, including more than 150 foreign soldiers, have died in fighting this year.

REUTERS LL BST2158