KANDAHAR, Sept 18: Three powerful suicide blasts struck Afghanistan on Monday, killing 18 people including four Canadian soldiers handing gifts to children. The blasts were the latest in a spike of suicide bombings in Afghanistan blamed on the extremist Taliban.

In the first blast a man on a bicycle blew himself up in a crowd of children clamouring for pens and books from Canadian troops with the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) near the southern city of Kandahar.

The explosion struck an area west of Kandahar where ISAF announced Sunday it had succeeded in driving out Taliban entrenched fighters, about 500 of whom it said earlier were killed in a two-week operation.—AFP