Roadside bomb kills nine civilians in Afghan south

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) - A roadside bomb killed nine Afghan civilians as their van drove along a road in a southern Taliban stronghold near the Pakistan border on Friday, a provincial official said.

Also in the south, a foreign soldier under NATO's command was killed by a roadside bomb on Thursday, NATO-led forces said in a statement. Defence officials in London identified the dead soldier as British.

July has already become the bloodiest month for foreign forces in the eight-year-old war in Afghanistan.

Earlier this month U.S. troops launched a major operation in the south, the biggest offensive against the Taliban under U.S. President Barack Obama's new regional strategy to defeat the Islamist insurgents and their allies and stabilise Afghanistan.

Under Obama's strategy, U.S. force strength in Afghanistan is rising from 32,000 at the beginning of this year to a projected 68,000 by year's end.

Homemade bombs planted in the road are by far the most lethal weapon deployed by Taliban insurgents, frequently killing civilians as well as the foreign and Afghan government troops they traditionally target.

Saifullah Hakim, a senior police officer in southern Kandahar province's border town of Spin Boldak, said the bomb that killed the civilians was apparently planted by insurgents to strike convoys of Afghan and foreign troops.

Soldiers often use the road where the bomb was planted.

Hakim said the passenger van had 11 civilians on board and was heading for a shrine when the bomb went off. Five children and two women were among the dead. Two women were wounded.