Dozens die in latest Afghan bomb

A bomb blast in southern Afghanistan has killed at least 35 civilians. Many people were injured, including three Nato soldiers, officials say.

The blast, apparently targeting Canadian troops in a Nato convoy, took place in Spin Boldak town in Kandahar province, near the Pakistani border.

A bomber in Kandahar city on Sunday killed more than 100 people - the country's bloodiest attack since 2001.

Nato troops in Afghanistan have been battling a resurgent Taleban militia.

Fifteen international troops have been killed in Afghanistan this year, most of them from the US.

Some 40,000 soldiers from Nato countries are deployed in the country, where their tasks include aiding reconstruction, tackling opium cultivation and battling the Taleban.

Taleban blamed

Monday's attack in Spin Boldak targeted a convoy of Canadian troops serving under Nato.

Funerals for those killed in Sunday's attack were held on Monday

According to Asadullah Khalid, the governor of Kandahar province, three Canadian troops were hurt in the attack.

"The suicide attacker detonated near a Canadian military convoy," the governor of Kandahar province, Asadullah Khalid, said.

He said 35 civilians were killed and 27 civilians were hurt.

The bomb also badly damaged a military vehicle and set fire to several shops in the area, a local police official said.

The nearby border had been closed, as part of a series of security measures for Pakistani elections on Monday.

According to the Associated Press news agency, the crossing was briefly opened to take some of those hurt in the blast to a hospital in the Pakistani town of Chaman nearby.

Earlier on Monday, funerals were held in Kandahar for the victims of Sunday's suicide attack.

MAJOR TALEBAN ATTACKS 29 Dec 2007: 16 policemen killed in Kandahar 6 Nov 2007: At least 70 die in attack on sugar factory in Baghlan province 29 Sep 2007: At least 30 soldiers killed in bus attack in Kabul 16 Jan 2006: At least 24 people killed in two attacks in Kandahar Deadliest Afghan attacks In pictures: Kandahar blast

Weeping relatives buried the dead, many of them in graves dug next to each other.

Sunday's bombing - believed to be the bloodiest since the overthrow of the Taleban in 2001 - hit a crowd watching a dogfight near the city.

The dead included a local police chief who also led a tribal militia opposed to the Taleban.

Officials blamed the Islamist Taleban guerrillas but they have denied responsibility.

Spreading influence

The Taleban claim to have influence across most of the country and have extended their area of control from their traditional heartland in the south.

They have a significant presence around Kandahar from where they carry out suicide attacks and roadside bomb blasts.

The militants are also known to operate freely in Wardak province, neighbouring the capital Kabul.

Last year, violence in Afghanistan reached its highest levels since the Taleban were forced from power in 2001, analysts say.

Last November, a suicide bombing in the northern Baghlan province killed 79 people - mostly school pupils - in what was until then the bloodiest bombing since the Taleban were ousted in 2001.