Four civilians, three NATO soldiers killed in Afghanistan attacks

At least one US civilian among attacks on Saturday in Afghanistan.

KANDAHAR: Six foreigners and an Afghan were killed in two separate attacks in Afghanistan on Saturday, local and international officials said.

Six people, including three NATO soldiers, died in a car bomb attack on a convoy of vehicles in Zabul province's capital, Qalat. Provincial governor Mohammad Ashraf Nasery, travelling in the convoy, was unharmed but a local doctor was killed, as were three American soldiers and two foreign civilians, according to local and NATO officials.

The cars were en route to a school and were near to a hospital and a NATO base when the car bomb exploded. Five Afghans, including a student and two reporters, were also wounded, a local official said.

US civilian killed

In a separate attack in Afghanistan's east, a US civilian working with the American government was killed during an insurgent attack, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said in a statement.

Zabul shares borders with Pakistan to the southeast and Kandahar province, to the south.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the Zabul attack via a text message from spokesperson Qari Yousuf Ahmadi.

The killings come in the wake of a bloody Taliban assault in the country's west several days ago that killed 44 people.  The United Nations says civilians are being increasingly targeted in 2013.