Suicide attack on foreign convoy in Afghanistan kills one: police

KABUL A suicide bomber targeted a convoy of foreign forces just outside the city of Lashkar Gah in the volatile southern Afghan province of Helmand, killing one civilian and wounding 12 others, local officials said on Sunday.

Afghan security forces have been fighting Taliban insurgents for weeks in the area around Lashkar Gah and in surrounding districts. The widening insurgency has escalated since foreign forces ended most combat operations last year.

International forces still provide training and other assistance and a limited number of U.S. troops are engaged in counter-terrorism operations. But there was no immediate confirmation from NATO's Resolute Support mission in Kabul of an attack on any of its vehicles.

"A convoy of three foreign forces vehicles was coming to the city from Marjah when targeted by a suicide bomber driving a car," said Omar Zawak, a spokesman for the Helmand governor's office, citing information from local police.

He said one of the vehicles caught fire causing casualties.

(Reporting by Hamid Shalizi; writing by James Mackenzie; editing by Digby Lidstone)