Afghan suicide attacks kill eight

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) – Eight people were killed, including two foreign soldiers, in a two-pronged suicide attack in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar on Saturday, police and a coalition spokesman said.

Major Scott Lundy, a spokesman for the U.S.-led force, said a suicide car bomber rammed a coalition convoy in the city of Kandahar on Saturday at 5:45 p.m.

“I can confirm that two coalition soldiers were killed and eight wounded in the suicide attack,” Lundy told Reuters. He did not give their identities.

Police said at least one civilian was killed in that attack.

 

 

A second suicide bomber blew himself up a short time later at the same location, killing five Afghans, police said.

Kandahar’s governor, Assadullah Khalid, said the bodies of two Afghans along with at least 30 wounded locals were brought to the city’s main hospital.

There has been a steep increase in violence by resurgent Taliban militants in the south of the country in the past two months.

The twin attacks come just over a week before a NATO-led mission takes over security from the coalition in the south. It will be the alliance’s toughest ground mission in its history.

Kandahar is part of the Taliban’s main bastion where hundreds of Canadian troops are based.