A Taliban suicide car bomber rammed a convoy of the NATO-led force near the southern Afghan city of Kandahar, killing two Canadian soldiers in the latest of a spate of such attacks.
The bomb exploded near tents of Kuchi nomads on Monday, killing 15 of their camels and leaving the road coated in blood, an AFP reporter at the scene said.
The extremist Taliban rooted in Kandahar province said it had carried out the attack on NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).
"There has been a suicide vehicle attack just east of Kandahar city ... On an ISAF convoy," Squadron Leader Jason Chalk said. "Two ISAF soldiers have been killed."
The Canadian defence ministry said later the soldiers were Canadian nationals, taking to 44 the country's military death toll in Afghanistan since 2002.
Kandahar provincial police chief Esmatullah Alizai said one Kuchi was wounded.
"The suicide bomber was one of our mujahedin (holy warriors)," Taliban spokesman Yousuf Ahmadi said.
Chunks of a minibus that had been carrying the bomb were flung across the road, along with pieces of the attacker's body.
{{/usCountry}}Chunks of a minibus that had been carrying the bomb were flung across the road, along with pieces of the attacker's body.
{{/usCountry}}The site of the blast was quickly sealed off by Afghan and Canadian troops and fire trucks washed down the road as investigation teams collected human remains and parts of the bomb.
Kandahar has borne the brunt of a spate of suicide bombings in Afghanistan this year by the Taliban, who rose to power from Kandahar province in 1996 before being driven from power five years later.