Car bomb blast hits NATO convoy in S. Afghanistan, killing civilian

An Afghan woman was killed and four civilians wounded when a suicide car bomb struck a NATO-led coalition forces' convoy in Kandahar City, the capital of the southern province of Kandahar on Sunday, a local official said.

The blast occurred at around 02:00 p.m. local time in Police District 5 of Kandahar city, along a road which connects the city to the international airport.

"The initial information found a woman was killed and four civilians were wounded by the blast. But no foreigner from the convoy was hurt as they were sitting in bomb proof vehicles," he said.

"We heard a huge blast when a convoy of international forces was passing our neighborhood. The whole place has now been sealed off, and no one knows what happened to residents near the blast site," a witness named Ahmad told Xinhua.

Several local vehicles and nearby houses were also damaged by the blast, he said.

No group has claimed responsibility yet for the attack, but the Taliban insurgent group routinely claims responsibility for such attacks.

In Afghanistan, more than 2,640 civilians were killed and over 5,370 others injured in conflict-related incidents in the first nine months of 2017, according to figures released by the UN mission in the country.

(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)