Suicide bomb kills seven in southern Afghanistan

The Taliban have threatened to step up their campaign ofsuicide attacks this year to wear down Afghan and Westernpublic support for the presence of foreign troops in thecountry.

The bomber attacked a convoy from the NATO-ledInternational Security Assistance Force (ISAF) near the villageof Girishk in the southern province of Helmand, an ISAFspokesman said.

"Three ISAF soldiers, one ISAF interpreter and three Afghancivilians were killed by the blast," said spokesman CaptainMark Gough. "Four ISAF soldiers and approximately six Afghancivilians were wounded."

Two Danish soldiers were killed and one was wounded in theattack, the Danish Army Central Command said. The troops wereworking on a reconstruction project when they were attacked.

The third dead soldier was Czech, as were two of thewounded, the Czech Defence Ministry said.

Most foreign troops in Helmand are British, but anothermilitary spokesman said no British soldiers were there at thetime. U.S. and Estonian troops are also in Helmand.

Violence has spiralled since the hardline Islamist Talibanrelaunched their insurgency to topple the pro-Western Afghangovernment and eject foreign troops two years ago.

The Taliban rely heavily on suicide and roadside bombattacks, but as foreign forces use more heavily armed vehiclesand are becoming better at avoiding casualties, a greaterproportion of the victims are Afghan civilians.

The Taliban carried out more than 140 suicide attacks lastyear, killing some 200 civilians.

More than 12,000 people, including some 350 foreignsoldiers, have been killed in Afghanistan since 2006, accordingto United Nations estimates.

On Sunday night, a Canadian soldier was killed by anexplosion in Kandahar, the ISAF said.

(Additional reporting by Martin Dokoupil in Prague)

(Reporting by Mirwais Afghan; Writing by Jon Hemming;Editing by Tim Pearce)