Suicide blast hits NATO convoy in Afghan south

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) - A suicide car bomber struck a NATO convoy near an alliance base in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar on Sunday, killing one local civilian, witnesses and a police officer said.

Three NATO soldiers were wounded in the blast, a spokesman for the force said.

NATO soldiers cordoned off the site of the attack which happened near the house of the ousted Taliban leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar. It was being used as a base for the alliance.

Minutes after the attack, explosives attached to a bicycle went off in another part of the city, but caused no casualties.

Violence has surged in Afghanistan since 2006, the bloodiest period since the Taliban's removal from power in 2001. More than 12,000 people have been killed during this period.

The al Qaeda-backed Taliban, which leads an insurgency against the government and foreign troops stationed in Afghanistan, largely rely on suicide attacks and roadside bomb blasts.

Separately on Sunday, a soldier from the U.S.-led force was killed in an operation in the western province of Farah, the U.S. military said in a statement.

The operation which involved Afghan forces, was aimed at a Taliban hideout in a district of the province, a police official in the region said. He said two Afghan police and several Taliban militants were also killed.

(Writing by Sayed Salahuddin, editing by Bill Tarrant)