Three Dead as Suicide Car Bombing Targets Aid Office in Afghanistan

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan – Three people were killed and two wounded in a suicide car bombing in front of the offices of a non-governmental organization in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar, officials told AFP.

Ahmad Faisal, of the Kandahar government's media office, gave the toll, while a doctor at nearby Mirwais hospital said it had received three wounded, two of whom had since died.

The car bomb exploded in front of the offices of the U.S.-based International Relief and Development offices in the southern city, said a spokesman for the police chief of Kandahar.

He said sporadic gunfire from security guards was ongoing at the site. It was not immediately clear who the guards were firing at.

The terror attack comes after a bloody weekend in Afghanistan which saw a Taliban insurgent kill 17 people -- including 10 Americans, two Britons and a Canadian -- by blowing up an explosives-laden Toyota sedan next to a U.S.-run military bus traveling through Kabul on Saturday morning.

Three Afghan bystanders and an Afghan policeman also died.

The attack was the deadliest on foreigners since 30 U.S. troops, including 25 U.S. Special Operations troopers, perished in mid-August when their helicopter was shot down south of Kabul in Wardak province.

Also Saturday, a rogue Afghan soldier killed three Australian troops and wounded another seven at a patrol base at Shah Wali Kot in northern Kandahar province.

The 10 casualties were members of Australia's mentoring task force, which is training the 4th Brigade of the Afghan National Army.