Twin Afghanistan suicide bombing kills 23: police

KANDAHAR: A twin suicide bombing attack killed 23 people Wednesday in a car park crammed with vehicles supplying a major NATO base in Afghanistan's southern province of Kandahar, police said.

A suicide bomber on a motorcycle struck first and as a crowd gathered to help the victims a second bomber walked into their midst and set off explosives strapped to his body, provincial police chief General Abdul Raziq told.

The attack happened in a parking lot holding dozens of trucks supplying the NATO-run Kandahar Air Base and a makeshift bazaar.

Twenty-three people, all civilians, were killed and 50 others wounded, Raziq said, describing most of the victims as drivers, their assistants and workers.

"All casualties are civilians -- not a single military person," he said.

Ahmad Jawed Faisal, a spokesman for the provincial administration, gave a similar account but said 22 people were killed.

The Kandahar Air Base is the largest NATO military base in southern Afghanistan, which has been a flashpoint for Taliban insurgents over the past decade.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the bombings, but similar attacks have been blamed on the hardline Islamists trying to topple the Western-backed government of President Hamid Karzai.

The Taliban have in the past threatened to kill truckers working for the US-led NATO mission, which relies on civilian vehicles to supply their bases across Afghanistan.