NATO Soldiers Injured in Afghan Suicide Attack

KABUL, Afghanistan — A suicide bomber rammed his car into a NATO convoy in Kabul yesterday, killing three civilians and wounding at least a dozen, officials said. Clashes and an airstrike in the south killed 25 militants and eight civilians held hostage by insurgents.

Another bomb attack against a NATO convoy in the country's northwest killed one soldier and wounded several other people, including civilians.

The Kabul suicide bomber targeted a NATO convoy on the main road in the city's eastern outskirts, killing three civilians and wounding 12 others, the provincial police chief, Ayub Salangi, said.

The blast also wounded some NATO soldiers, NATO's press office in Kabul said.

An eyewitness who was traveling ahead of the convoy when the blast happened said the troops were British.

"I turned my head and saw a big burst of fire next to my car," Ahmed Shakeb, 22, said. "I saw that the convoy was British."

A Taliban spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahed, claimed responsibility for the blast, and said a man named Aminullah from the eastern Khost province blew himself up. Mr. Mujahed's claim could not be independently verified.

In the southern province of Uruzgan, meanwhile, militants ambushed coalition and Afghan troops along a road yesterday, triggering gunbattles during which militants moved into a compound and took 11 civilians hostage, a coalition statement said.

"Coalition troops called in close-air support to engage the militants hiding in the structure. They did not have knowledge of noncombatants in the buildings at that time," the coalition statement said.