The suicide attacker blew himself up at a security post near a mosque in Lashkar Gah, capital of troubled Helmand province, where hundreds of people had gathered to decide would go on the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca later this year.
The explosion was also near the house of the provincial governor. The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force, which has troops in the area, said guards at the house may have been the target, although none were hurt. "It was a suicide attack. Eighteen people were killed and 18 wounded," provincial police chief General Mohammad Nabi Mullahkhail said. "Three of the dead were policemen."
Three Afghan soldiers were also killed, provincial government spokesman Mohayedin Khan said. "The Afghan army soldiers had identified this guy and as they tried to arrest him, he exploded himself near the police check post," Khan said.
The dead included people who had crowded around the checkpoint to enter the mosque. A man who often calls the media and claims to speak for the Taliban said the bomber belonged to the group.
Another purported Taliban spokesman said the movement was also responsible for a remote-controlled bomb in the capital early Tuesday. The explosives were hidden in a ditch that passed under the road about 10 kilometers (six miles) south of the city center.
The blast was so powerful that it ripped up the tarmac and tossed an ISAF armored vehicle meters (yards) away and flipped it upside down. An Italian soldier was killed and five were wounded, the Italian ambassador to Kabul, Ettore Francesco Sequi, said. An Afghan child was also killed, ISAF said in statement. Police said five other Afghans were hurt.
Italy has nearly 2,000 troops in Afghanistan as part of the 37-nation ISAF, which is trying to establish security in the face of a virulent Taliban insurgency. There has been a spike in suicide and roadside attacks in Afghanistan this year carried out by the extremist Taliban militia, which has stepped up an insurgency launched after it was removed from power five years ago.
Meanwhile a convoy of US-led coalition troops narrowly escaped a suicide blast near the eastern town of Khost when the would-be bomber exploded before reaching his target, the coalition and police said.
A man wearing a bomb-loaded vest tried to attack the convoy but his explosives detonated early, coalition spokesman Lieutenant Marcelo Calero said.
Khost province police chief Mohammad Ayoob said the would-be attacker was shot dead by troops as he attempted to launch himself at the convoy.
In neighboring Paktika province, authorities reported that six suspected rebels were killed Monday as they escorted a suicide bomber whose explosives detonated early. ISAF also reported late Monday that coalition air strikes killed 20 insurgents in southern Uruzgan province. Two coalition and seven Afghan soldiers were lightly wounded in the engagement Sunday, it said.
There are almost 40,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan with the 37-nation ISAF or the coalition. They are trying to help government forces quell the Taliban rebellion, extend government authority and facilitate reconstruction of the war-damaged country. But the level of resistance has been greater than expected, with the troops involved in almost daily clashes while also being targeted by Taliban suicide and roadside bombings.
© 2006 Agence France-Presse
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