Car bomb kills 3 in south Afghan city

[December 27, 2010]  KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AP) -- A car bomb exploded in the heart of the southern city of Kandahar on Monday, killing three people, an Afghan policeman at the scene said.

The blast also wounded 26 people, most of them policemen, officials said.

Southern Afghanistan, a traditional Taliban stronghold, has seen some of the worst fighting this year between the militants and foreign and Afghan troops.

The car detonated at midday near a police compound and a branch of Kabul Bank in the crowded center of the city, said policeman Noor Mohammad, who was guarding the bank.

"I was sitting near the gate when this explosion occurred. We fell to the ground and we couldn't see anything for five minutes" because of the dust and smoke caused by the blast, he said.

"After that I saw three dead bodies" and more than a dozen people wounded, he said, adding that police and security guards from nearby buildings and compounds took the casualties to hospital.

The official death toll was unclear in the hours after the attack. Kandahar police chief Khan Mohammad Mujahid said one policeman had been killed, while the Kandahar governor's spokesman, Zalmai Ayudi, said one civilian had been killed. Ayudi said 26 people were wounded; 10 civilians and 16 police.

A doctor at Mirwais Hospital, who did not want his name used because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said the bodies of three people had been taken to the hospital by mid-afternoon.

An Associated Press reporter at the scene saw pieces of the car in which the explosion occurred scattered around the scene. Three police vehicles, at least two civilian cars and two shops in the area were also destroyed by the blast.

Earlier in the day, NATO said one of its service members had been killed in a roadside bombing in southern Afghanistan on Monday. It provided no other details.

This year has been the deadliest of the nearly 10-year war for foreign troops, with 697 killed so far in 2010, according to an AP count.

[Associated Press; By MIRWAIS KHAN]

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