LASHKAR GAH – A suicide bomber killed 12 civilians on Sunday when he detonated his explosives near a crowd in southern Afghanistan, while a roadside bomb in the east killed two others, officials said. Violence in Afghanistan has surged, with 2009 being the worst year since US-backed Afghan forces overthrew the Taliban in 2001. More than 2,400 civilians were killed last year, a 14 per cent rise on 2008, the UN said. In the first incident, a suicide bomber driving a three-wheeled rickshaw detonated his explosives near a crowd who were holding a picnic for the Afghan New Year in Gereshk district of Helmand province, the provincial governor's spokesman said. "The target was an Afghan Army vehicle. The first reports are that 12 civilians have been killed and seven more wounded," said spokesman Daoud Ahmadi, adding the bomb missed its target. A witness at the scene told reporters he had been no more than 50 metres away from the blast. "The bomber was driving a rickshaw and was targeting an army vehicle. When the soldiers saw the rickshaw they sped up. The bomb exploded in a crowded area where many people were having picnics," said Khan Mohamed. "Many people have been killed and wounded," he said. A spokesman for NATO-led forces in Kabul said none of its forces were killed or wounded in the attack, but that foreign troops were now in the area assessing the situation. In February, thousands of US Marines launched an assault in Marjah, another part of Helmand, which had been under the insurgents' control.
