Afghan police say a suicide car bomber targeted a NATO convoy in the southern city of Kandahar, wounding eight civilians but causing no deaths except for the bomber. Officials say no NATO soldiers were hurt in Wednesday's blast in the western part of Kandahar.
Thousands of NATO forces are based in southern Afghanistan, where they are fighting Taleban militants. In a separate incident, the U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan says U.S. warplanes bombed a Taleban compound in southern Helmand province Tuesday, killing 13 militants.
A U.S. coalition statement says the airstrike came in response to an insurgent attack on coalition and Afghan troops.
The Italian aid group, Emergency, has withdrawn nearly 40 foreign staffers from Afghanistan. It says it will continue its operations with local employees. The vice president of Emergency, Carlo Garbagnati, says the group withdrew its foreign staff because of a lack of security.
The Italian aid group also says it is concerned about the detention of one its Afghan staffers taken during the abduction of an Italian journalist. That journalist was later released.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.
