Kandahar, August 30: A suicide bomber blew himself up close to NATO troops in southern Afghanistan today, killing up to two Afghan civilians and wounding more than 20 others, officials said.
The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force, which has 64,500 troops in Afghanistan to fight a growing Taliban insurgency, confirmed “an incident” involving its troops but had no other details available.
The attack happened when Afghan police and NATO troops were walking through a small town in the province of Zabul, the local district governor told.
“International forces were on a foot patrol in Shahjoy town when a suicide bomber on foot detonated himself alongside them. In the incident, 21 civilians were wounded and two of them were killed,” said Shahjoy governor Abdul Qayoum.
The Deputy Police Chief of Zabul province confirmed the attack.
“It was a suicide attack that resulted in 22 (Afghan) people wounded. Two were killed so far,” Ghulam Jailani said.
The Interior Ministry said one Afghan civilian died and 22 were wounded in the attack targeting coalition forces on foot patrol. There were no details of any NATO casualties.
–Agencies