KANDAHAR, March 28: A remote-controlled bomb exploded in southwestern Afghanistan on Tuesday, killing two foreigners and three Afghans working for a US security firm, Governor Azad and police said. Police also said they foiled a suicide bombing in the main southern city of Kandahar but the bomber detonated his explosives, killing himself and an accomplice.

The remotely detonated bomb ripped through a vehicle carrying five men working for the USPI security firm in Nimroz province, governor Ghulam Dastageer Azad said.

“Two foreign nationals, their two Afghan bodyguards and their Afghan driver were killed in a roadside remote-controlled bomb attack today in Nimroz,” Mr Azad said.

A local policeman said the foreign nationals were South Africans but this could not be immediately confirmed.

The officer said the men were maintaining security for a Turkish reconstruction company in the area, which borders Iran.

Mr Azad blamed the attack on the “enemies of Afghanistan.”

The bodies of the men were taken to a nearby road construction company site.

In Kandahar on Tuesday police acting on a tip-off confronted a suicide bomber and an accomplice in the centre of the city, which has been hit by several suicide bombings, provincial governor Assadullah Khalid said.

When police shouted to the men to “freeze”, the bomber detonated his explosives.—AFP