Four US soldiers were injured yesterday when a suicide bomber drove a car packed with explosives into a US military convoy in southern Afghanistan, officials said.
The ousted Taliban regime claimed responsibility for the attack at Mirwais Mina, a suburb of the restive southern city of Kandahar which was once a Taliban stronghold.
The bombing was the latest in a string of attacks by suspected Islamic militants on US and government targets.
There were conflicting reports on what caused the blast, with the US saying initial reports indicated a homemade bomb while local police said it had been a suicide attack.
"A coalition patrol was out on routine patrol when a suspected improvised explosive device exploded. Four US service members were wounded and they were evacuated to Kandahar airfield," US military spokesman Lieutenant Cindy Moore said.
The soldiers were members of a provincial reconstruction team doing civil-military aid work in the region and at least one of the four wounded was in a serious condition, Colonel James Yonts told reporters in Kabul.
"The service members were flown to Kandahar airfield, where they are receiving medical attention at this time," Yonts said, adding it was unclear who was behind the attack.
Two US military helicopters circled the site, some 10km west of Kandahar city center, and landed to evacuate the US soldiers.
One was dragged to the first helicopter by his colleagues and two others were lifted aboard on stretchers.
A senior Afghan official said it was a suicide attack.
"A suicide bomber drove the Toyota car packed with explosives into a US military convoy," Kandahar city security chief General Salim Khan told reporters.
Khan said the investigation was continuing and confirmed US reports that four soldiers had been wounded.
"It was a suicide attack, the suicide bomber blew himself up with the car he was driving in. We have found his head and legs and other body parts. Four people were wounded in this incident," he told reporters.
A spokesman for the Taliban regime claimed responsibility.
"A brother of ours carried out a suicide attack using a station wagon vehicle, and crashed into a three-vehicle convoy of the Americans," Mullah Abdul Latif Hakimi told reporters by satellite phone from an undisclosed location.
Hakimi said that the bomber, a resident of Kandahar, had driven his car into the middle vehicle of the convoy, which was totally destroyed.
"The suicide bomber was martyred in the incident," he added.
Suicide attacks are rare in Afghanistan and are often considered to have links with al-Qaeda or other foreign militants accused by the government of trying to derail legislative elections due in September.
A suicide bomber blew himself up during the funeral of a key anti-Taliban cleric at a mosque in Kandahar on June 1, killing 21 people.
Officials later said he was an Arab with links to Osama bin Laden's terror network and added that there were more suspected suicide bombers in the city.
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