Suicide attack decimates Afghan marketplace

THREE suicide attackers blew themselves up in the largest city in southern Afghanistan today, leaving 22 people dead in a dusty marketplace that was turned into a gruesome scene of blood and bodies, authorities said.

• Eight private security guards were among the 22 killed

• Double suicide blast kills those who went to aid of injured

Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi claimed responsibility for the attack in Kandahar that injured an estimated 50 civilians.

The explosion occurred about five kilometers (three miles) from the main gate of the massive military installation run by the U.S.-led coalition and roughly 500 meters (yards) from an Afghan military base.

One suicide bomber detonated a three-wheeled motorbike filled with explosives first, said Rahmatullah Atrafi, deputy police chief in Kandahar province. Then, as people rushed to assist the casualties, two other suicide bombers on foot walked up to the site and blew themselves up, he said.

Small shops and private security company offices line one side of the road. Large trucks that supply logistics to Kandahar Air Field regularly park along the other side.

The explosions left a bloody scene of body parts, shoes, soda cans, snacks and debris from three shops that were destroyed.

Mohammad Naeem, a 30-year-old shopkeeper, said he was selling soft drinks to a customer when the first blast occurred.

“I dropped to the ground,” he said. “When I got up, I looked outside and I heard people shouting for help.”

Naeem said he helped his customer, who was wounded, into his shop.

“He was bleeding. I put cloth on his wound to stop the bleeding,” he said. “I was busy with that when the other blasts occurred.”