Suicide Bombers Kill 6 Afghans, 2 Canadians

Suicide bombers killed two Canadian soldiers and six Afghan civilians in two near-simultaneous blasts Saturday in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar as NATO prepared to take command of the volatile region, officials said. A purported Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility for the blasts.

The first attacker rammed an explosives-laden car into a coalition vehicle, killing the two soldiers and wounding eight other Canadians, said Canadian Maj. Scott Lundy, a spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition forces.

Canada said the attack occurred as the soldiers’ convoy was making its way back to Kandahar airfield. The Canadian Defense Ministry identified the two dead soldiers as Cpl. Francisco Gomez of Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, based in Edmonton, Alberta, and Cpl. James Patrick Warren of the Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) of Canada, based in Montreal.

Shortly after the blast, a second bomber approached a crowd and detonated his explosives vest about 30 yards from the site of the first attack, killing six bystanders and wounding 20 others, said Dawood Ahmadi, the spokesman for the governor of Kandahar. No coalition members were hit in the second explosion, Lundy said.

Qari Mohammed Yousuf, a purported Taliban spokesman, said both bombers were Afghans. He threatened more suicide attacks and ambushes.

Also Saturday, coalition forces transferred to Afghan authorities an accused militant leader detained July 16, the U.S. military said. Amir Gul Hassanyar was arrested in the northern province of Kunduz and allegedly carried out numerous roadside bombings and trafficked in weapons and drugs, it said.

In the southern province of Helmand, Afghan and U.S.-led coalition forces, backed by helicopter gunships, killed 19 suspected Taliban fighters in clashes Thursday and Friday, a local official said Saturday. He said 15 Taliban fighters were wounded Saturday but managed to flee the area, which is one of the two southern districts briefly captured by militants last week and then reclaimed by coalition and Afghan forces.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, which is increasing its troop level in Afghanistan to 16,000 from 9,700, is poised to take over the command of the country’s volatile south from the U.S.-led coalition by month’s end. The alliance already has a presence in the capital, Kabul, and in the west and north.

The NATO troops, mostly British, Canadian and Dutch, are deploying there and working with U.S. troops as part of an anti-terrorism campaign that has met with stiff resistance from Taliban militants.

The United States has at least 21,000 troops in Afghanistan, and many of them will be incorporated into the NATO force. However, the U.S. will maintain a combat force independent of NATO to hunt down Taliban and Al Qaeda militants.