Suicide bomber kills Afghan soldier; three held

SPIN BOLDAK, Afghanistan, Jan 18 (Reuters) A suicide bomber blew himself up among a group of Afghan soldiers today, killing one a day after Afghan police said they had arrested three suicide bombers entering from neighbouring Pakistan.

Suicide bombings were almost unknown in Afghanistan until 2005 but the number of attacks surged to 139 last year, according to US military figures, as part of a sharply intensified Taliban insurgency.

There have been several so far this year, the latest today when a man detonated explosives attached to his body near a group of soldiers in the southeastern province of Paktika, killing one soldier and wounding one, officials said.

Police in the Afghan border town of Spin Boldak did not identify the three men arrested in an explosives-laden vehicle after arriving from Pakistan, or give their nationality, but said they had confessed to being recruited and trained in Pakistan.

''They told us that they have centres in Pakistan, where people are recruited and trained as suicide bombers,'' Mohammad Anway, an Afghan border security official, told Reuters today.

''The car was full of explosives and they had plans to distribute some of the material to their men and carry out attacks in Kandahar,'' he said, referring to the nearby southern city which serves as a hub for NATO operations.

Afghan officials frequently say suicide bombers are being recruited and trained in Pakistan.

Pakistan was the main backer of the Taliban during the 1990s but officially stopped helping them after the September 11, 2001 attacks, when it joined the US-led war on terrorism.

But while Pakistan has arrested or killed hundreds of al Qaeda members, Afghanistan and some of its allies say it has failed to take effective action against Taliban leaders, their networks and sanctuaries.

A Taliban spokesman arrested in Afghanistan this week said in a video recording of part of his interrogation a former Pakistani spy chief was organising the training of suicide bombers at a religious school in Pakistan.

He also said fugitive Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar was living in the Pakistani city of Quetta under the protection of Pakistan's main security agency.

Pakistan and the former spy chief dismissed the accusations.

REUTERS SHB VV1522