Suicide Bomber Kills 15 In S. Afghanistan

A suicide car bomber detonated near a convoy of private security forces Saturday in southern Afghanistan, killing four Afghan guards and 11 civilians, including women and children, police said.

The bomb went off west of Kandahar city and also wounded six other guards as well as 20 civilians who were in two minivans passing by the convoy, Kandahar provincial police chief Syed Agha Saqib said.

Three women and two children died in the blast, and five women and three children were among the civilians wounded. Women's and children's shoes were scattered about the area. A stuffed animal toy was left in one of the destroyed minivans.

Saqib said the guards worked for U.S. Protection and Investigations security firm. Company representatives could not immediately be reached to confirm that their employees were attacked.

In neighboring Helmand province, insurgents holed up in buildings and trenches attacked Afghan police and coalition forces Friday near Fire Base Robinson, the coalition said in a statement. Nearly a dozen suspected militants were killed in the ensuing battle.

It was the third insurgent attack on the joint forces in as many days, the statement said. No Afghan or coalition forces were wounded in the three days of fighting.

Since early spring, Afghan and international forces have been battling insurgents in Helmand — scene of some of the heaviest fighting over the last two years and the largest opium poppy-growing region in the world.

Violence in Afghanistan has risen sharply during the last two months. More than 3,700 people have died so far this year, most of them militants, according to an Associated Press tally of casualty figures provided by Western and Afghan officials.