Report: suicide bomber kills 4, injures 31 in Afghanistan

PanARMENIAN.Net - A suicide car bomber targeting a NATO-sponsored reconstruction team killed four Afghan civilians, including a child, and wounded 31 on Thursday, January 26 in southern Afghanistan, officials said.

Three civilian international members of the aid team - two men and one woman - were among the wounded, said Daud Ahmadi, a spokesman for the provincial governor. He said their injuries were not life threatening and did not know their nationalities.

The bomber detonated his explosives-laden vehicle Thursday morning as a convoy of a NATO Provincial Reconstruction Team passed by in Lashkar Gah, capital of Helmand province, Ahmadi said.

The blast ripped through the convoy of armored vehicles, knocking at least one over and charring others. The explosion also shredded nearby storefronts and damaged at least 17 civilian cars nearby, a provincial statement said, according to AP.

Provincial Reconstruction Teams are joint international military-civilian units dedicated to aid projects to boost support for the Afghan government of President Hamid Karzai. They are sponsored by the NATO military coalition and there are 27 now operating in Afghanistan.