Car bomb in Afghanistan hits Canadian convoy, kills 3

KABUL, Afghanistan – A suicide car bomb hit a Canadian military convoy Sunday in southern Afghanistan, killing two civilians and a senior Canadian diplomat, officials said.

A purported Taliban spokesman, Qari Mohammed Yousaf, claimed responsibility for the attack, which also wounded three Canadian soldiers and 10 other people.

He warned that “these attacks will continue for a long time. We have many more suicide attackers ready to go.”

“We will continue this strategy until all foreign forces leave Afghanistan,” he said in a telephone call to the Associated Press.

Afghanistan has been hit by about 25 suicide bombings in the past four months – a relatively new tactic for militants here, and one that has reinforced fears the country may see more assaults modeled on those in Iraq.

Sunday’s attack occurred as the convoy was driving near the Canadian base in Kandahar, a former Taliban stronghold, said Interior Ministry spokesman Dad Mohammed Rasa. At least two civilians were killed, and 10 were wounded, he said.

Glyn Berry, 59, who was Canada’s senior diplomat in southern Afghanistan and the political director of a 250-member provincial reconstruction team, also died.

Canada’s Deputy Chief of Defense, Lt. General Marc Dumais, said three Canadian soldiers also were wounded and two were in critical condition with life threatening injuries.

Canada has about 650 troops in Afghanistan, nearly all in Kandahar, and Ottawa plans to increase the Canadian military presence there to 2,000 next month in support of NATO’s plans to expand its peacekeeping mission into the more volatile southern region.