Ten killed by suicide bomber in southern Afghanistan

March 22, 2010 According to officials, at least ten people were killed in the southern part of the Helmand province in Afghanistan earlier today in a suicide bombing.

The suicide bomber was targeting a convoy for the Afghan army situated on a bridge, according to a government spokesman; however, the blast's victims were civilians.

"An explosion by a three-wheeled motorcycle targeting an Afghan army convoy killed at least ten civilians in a crowded area of Gereshk district," commented spokesman Daud Ahmadi to the Agence France-Presse news agency, adding that the bomb detonated after the convoy had passed the bridge.

According to media reports, the vicinity near where the bomb exploded was crowded with people celebrating Nowruz, the Afghan new year.