Suicide bomber targets NATO convoy, kills 8 civilians in Afghanistan

A suicide bomber targeting a NATO convoy killed eight Afghan civilians and wounded about two dozen others today, authorities said.

Three Canadian soldiers were slightly wounded in the blast, according to military officials.

The attack, in a crowded district of Kandahar city, was part of a pattern of suicide bombings carried out by insurgents against coalition forces. The strike was typical in that it killed civilian bystanders rather than soldiers, who patrol the city only in heavily armored vehicles.

Three of those killed were children, the Interior Ministry said. Of the Afghans injured, two were policemen, according to the provincial police chief, Sayde Agha Sapib.

Suicide bombings, together with roadside bombs, are a favored tactic of the insurgents, particularly in southern Afghanistan, where conflict has been intensifying. Last year saw nearly 150 suicide attacks nationwide, the largest number since the toppling of the Taliban movement in 2001.

NATO’s International Security Assistance Force condemned the attack and said its troops had cordoned off the area and provided aid to the injured, airlifting some to its nearby base for treatment.

Amid the rising violence, a U.S.-based human rights group charged that detainees formerly in American custody were receiving grossly unfair trials after being handed over to Afghan authorities for prosecution.

Human Rights First, based in Washington and New York, examined the cases of more than 250 Afghans who had been detained either at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, or the Bagram base outside Kabul, the Afghan capital. Once turned over to Afghan authorities, the prisoners have been prosecuted on the basis of what the group described as extremely thin evidence.

The group based its report on interviews with judges, prosecutors, lawyers and family members, together with observation of dozens of trials. The report’s author, Sahr Muhammed Ally, said that American authorities “consistently failed to provide sufficient evidence to support the allegations of criminal activity necessary for fair trials.”

Some trials lasted as little as half an hour, with prosecutors calling no witnesses and providing “little or no” physical evidence, the report said.

Also today, the U.S. military command in Afghanistan changed hands. The 82nd Airborne Division has been replaced by the 101st Airborne, based in Fort Campbell, Ky.

The arrival of about 3,500 Marines in southern Afghanistan over a period of recent weeks brings the total U.S. troop presence in the country to approximately 32,000, the largest number since the U.S.-led invasion in 2001. Nearly two-thirds of the American soldiers serve under NATO command.

laura.king@latimes.com

Special correspondent M. Karim Faiez in Kabul contributed to this report.