KUNDUZ (Afghanistan), May 19: Germany suffered its biggest loss in Afghanistan since 2003 on Saturday when three soldiers and about six Afghan civilians were killed in a suicide blast in a normally calm northern town.

Military forces meanwhile said they had killed scores of Taliban fighters in separate operations overnight, with nearly 70 bodies left on one battlefield.

The German soldiers were hit while shopping in a crowded market in the town of Kunduz, nearly 300 kilometres north of Kabul.

An onion seller who gave his name as Ayatullah said he saw the troops buying goods from a stall just moments before the blast.

“Suddenly I heard a very loud explosion. For two minutes I couldn’t see anything because there was a lot of dust,” the 20-year-old said.

“Then I could see bodies, injured people lying around. Police came and carried them away.” Kunduz Governor Mohammad Omar said: “Three of our German friends were killed and two were wounded. One Afghan interpreter was also wounded.” Six Afghans were killed and a dozen hurt, six of them critically, he added.

Nato’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) confirmed three of its soldiers were killed and two wounded in the attack.

It did not give the nationalities of the soldiers but the German defence ministry said its forces were involved.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahed said his organisation was responsible for the blast. The movement vowed last month to step up attacks in the north, which has seen relatively little of the violence gripping the south and east.

Saturday’s was the most deadly strike against the German deployment to Afghanistan since 2003, when four were killed in a suicide car bombing in Kabul.

Germany has around 3,000 troops here, operating largely in the north of the country. Twenty-one German soldiers have lost their lives in Afghanistan since 2002, including the ones killed on Saturday.

Around 60 foreign soldiers involved in the international mission to Afghanistan have died this year, most of them in attacks or combat.

An Afghan general reported, meanwhile, that soldiers from the Afghan army and a coalition led by the United States had killed 67 Taliban in an ambush late Friday in the eastern province of Paktia, near the border with Pakistan.—AFP