At least 8 killed in south Afghan attack-witnesses
Source: Reuters
(Updates with British comment paragraphs 7-11) KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, Dec 3 (Reuters) - At least eight people were killed in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar on Sunday in a suicide car bombing against NATO troops and subsequent gunfire by soldiers, police and witnesses said. Three civilians died when the bomber struck a military convoy and five more were shot by troops afterwards, they said. NATO said three of its soldiers were wounded in the attack for which the Taliban claimed responsibility. Asked about the accounts of troops shooting civilians, NATO spokesman Major Luke Knittig said: "We will establish the facts. It is still unclear in what way the troops reacted." Britain's Ministry of Defence said the three injured soldiers were British Royal Marines commandoes. It said one was seriously wounded and the others were in stable condition. "The convoy was attacked by a suspected suicide bomber in a vehicle, who attempted to ram the British vehicles. A number of Afghan civilians were also injured in the blast and at least two were killed," the ministry said. The Ministry of Defence said later that after the attack two British vehicles transported the casualties from the scene to a safe location from where a helicopter could evacuate them. "As they moved from the area of the attack, several civilian vehicles began following them, including one which weaved in front of them in an attempt to block their progress," it said. The British soldiers fired flares and warning shots to keep the vehicles back, but some continued to approach, it said. "Further shots had to be fired to disable the vehicles," it said. "There are reports that some civilians may have been injured and these are currently being investigated." It gave no further details. Both NATO and U.S.-led coalition troops are stationed in Kandahar, the heartland of the Taliban insurgency, which has been stepped up this year, including a dramatic increase in suicide attacks, previously almost unheard of in Afghanistan. Two Canadian soldiers were killed in a suicide car bombing in Kandahar last week. Almost 4,000 people, about a quarter of them civilians, have been killed in fighting this year, the bloodiest since U.S.-led forces ousted the Taliban's hardline government in 2001. (Additional reporting and writing by Sayed Salahuddin, and by Adrian Croft in London)
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