Kabul suicide bomb, GI shoots civilians

KABUL, June 16 (Reuters) A suicide car-bomber attacked a military-civilian convoy today in the Afghan capital, killing at least three civilians, the government and police said, the third such attack on foreign forces in two days.

A US soldier later accidentally shot and wounded two civilians near the scene of the blast on the outskirts of Kabul, a US military spokesman said. A senior police official said one of the civilians had died of his wounds.

''It appears ... that it was an accidental discharge, that the weapon fired accidentally, and regrettably and unfortunately it hit two Afghan civilians,'' the US military spokesman said, adding that the incident was under investigation.

Suicide bombings and civilian casualties from both sides in the Afghan conflict are raising security and political tensions and threatening to erode local support for foreign troops, which are fighting with the government against Taliban insurgents.

NATO-led and US-coalition forces have more than 50,000 troops in Afghanistan and are under growing pressure to curb civilian casualties after a series of recent killings brought into question their tactics, such as aerial bombardment.

But NATO has blamed the Taliban, which ruled Afghanistan until US-led forces invaded in 2001, for using civilians as human shields and sucking innocent people into the conflict.

Today, a suicide attacker manoeuvred a taxi packed with explosives close to vehicles carrying both foreign troops and civilians, then detonated the blast, said Ali Shah Paktiawal, chief of Kabul police's criminal branch.

He said four people had been killed, apart from the bomber, but the Interior Ministry said the four included the bomber.

Another five people were wounded, Paktiawal added.

A member of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force was among those wounded in the blast, ISAF said. It was unclear if the wounded ISAF member was military or civilian.

CIVILIAN CASUALTIES MOUNT The Taliban have been fighting the Afghan government and its allies since US-led forces ousted the Islamist group for refusing to give up their ally, al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

But suicide bombings are a relatively recent phenomenon in Afghanistan. In the past two years, the Taliban and their al Qaeda allies have stepped up such attacks, though there had not been a suicide bombing in the capital for many weeks.

Yesterday, a suicide car-bomber attacked foreign troops in central Afghanistan, killing 10 people, including five children and a Dutch soldier.

Later in the day, a second suicide bomber on foot attacked a foreign troop convoy in southern Kandahar city, wounding at least five civilians, a police official said.

Afghan interior ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary said authorities were investigating today's suicide attack but that he doubted it was part of a new, intensive campaign to disrupt security across the country.

''This is something different,'' he said. He did not elaborate.

Yesterday, an Afghan teenager was shot and killed in crossfire between US-led forces and Taliban fighters in the southern province of Zabul, the US military said today. Another boy was also shot and taken to a military hospital.

''Coalition and Afghan forces strive to avoid civilian injuries and are saddened by the loss of life,'' said US military spokesman Major Chris Belcher.

''But when extremists insist on hiding among civilians, as they clearly were here, they are abusing the kindness of their hosts and putting innocents at risk.'' REUTERS HK PM1750