Suicide Bomber Kills 9 in Afghanistan

US soldiers stand guard next to the scene where a suicide bomber targeted a NATO convoy, in Kandahar, south Afghanistan, Friday, Oct 13, 2006. The suicide car bombing on a NATO convoy on Friday, killed eight civilians and wounding six others, including two NATO soldiers, alliance and police officials said. (AP Photo/Allauddin Khan) (Allauddin Khan - AP)

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- A Taliban suicide bomber rammed an explosives-packed van into a NATO military patrol manned mostly by U.S. troops Friday, killing one NATO soldier and eight Afghan civilians as shrapnel blasted nearby shops.

The morning attack on a busy commercial street in Kandahar also wounded another NATO soldier and eight more civilians. A dozen shops were wrecked. Vegetables spilled onto a bloodstained Khojuk Baba Road, which was also littered with twisted metal from the bomber's van.

A NATO official said the bomber struck a convoy made up primarily of U.S. soldiers, but did not divulge the nationality of the dead or wounded troops. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to share the information with the media.

The road where the attack took place is a main thoroughfare used to reach outlying villages from the southern city.

Most of those killed and wounded were shopkeepers. Among the wounded were two children, said Masood Khan, a doctor at a hospital where they were taken.

"These innocent people sitting in the shops or passing by on a Ramadan day have been killed and wounded," said Naqibullah Khan, an angry grocery shop owner near the blast site, referring to the Islamic holy month of fasting. "I do not know what type of jihad (holy war) this is. Why do they (the Taliban) want to kill their Muslim brothers?"

The attack, one of many to hit Kandahar and the surrounding area this year, underlined the challenges facing NATO and raised further doubts about its ability to secure what was the seat of the Taliban regime before its ouster in late 2001.

The military alliance says its clashes with insurgents have decreased in recent weeks. But militants are increasingly resorting to roadside and suicide attacks in their bid to weaken the government and hit foreign troops.

According to NATO figures, there have been at least 78 suicide attacks in Afghanistan this year _ a nearly fourfold increase from all of 2005 _ that have killed 142 Afghan civilians, 40 Afghan security personnel and 13 international troops.

"This indiscriminate attack further demonstrates the insurgents' total disregard for the safety of the local population of Kandahar city," a NATO statement said.

One of the wounded civilians, Karim Khan, lay on a hospital bed, his body peppered with shrapnel. With a faltering voice, he recalled how he was approaching a butcher's shop when the blast sent him flying from his bicycle.

"I was unconscious, and when I opened my eyes I was in the hospital," the 25-year old said. "My mother will be worried sick when she knows I am wounded."

Qari Yousaf Ahmadi, who claims to speak for the Taliban in southern Afghanistan, contacted an Associated Press reporter in Kandahar by phone from an undisclosed location to claim responsibility for the blast.