Suicide bombing in Afghanistan kills 3, hurts 26

A suicide car bombing in the heart of the southern Afghan city of Kandahar on Monday killed three and wounded 26 people, most of them policemen, authorities said.

South Afghanistan, a traditional Taliban stronghold, has seen some of the worst fighting this year between the militants and foreign and Afghan troops. President Hamid Karzai issued a statement condemning the attack.

The car exploded at midday near a police compound and a branch of Kabul Bank in the crowded center of the city, said Noor Mohammad, a policeman who was guarding the bank.

"I was sitting near the gate when this explosion occurred. We fell to the ground and we couldn't see anything for five minutes" due to the dust and smoke caused by the blast, he said.

"After that I saw three dead bodies" and more than a dozen people wounded, he said, adding that police and security guards from nearby buildings and compounds took the casualties to hospital.

A doctor at Mirwais Hospital, who did not want his name used because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said the bodies of three people had been taken to the hospital by mid-afternoon, and at least 16 wounded people were treated there.

The Kandahar governor's spokesman, Zalmai Ayudi, said a civilian had been killed and 26 people had been wounded; 10 civilians and 16 police, while Kandahar police chief Khan Mohammad Mujahid said one policeman had been killed.

It was unclear whether the intended target had been the police compound or the bank.

An Associated Press reporter at the scene saw pieces of the suicide bomber's car scattered around the scene. Three police vehicles, at least two civilian cars and two shops in the area were also destroyed by the blast.

Earlier in the day, NATO said one of its service members had been killed in a roadside bombing in southern Afghanistan on Monday. It provided no other details.

This year has been the deadliest of the nearly 10-year war for foreign troops, with 697 killed so far in 2010, according to an AP count.

Separately, Interior Ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashari announced a major drug haul, saying Afghan anti-drugs units on Sunday seized 41 metric tons (45 tons) of hashish in a raid on a warehouse in Gardez, the capital of Paktiya province south of Kabul.

The troops also arrested a man at the building, which Bashari said authorities believe was a drugs distribution center.

Afghanistan is the world's global leader in hashish production, according to the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime. It also supplies 90 percent of the world's opium, the main ingredient in heroin. The highly lucrative opium poppy crop has helped finance insurgents and fuel corruption.