Suicide bomb kills 18 in Afghanistan

Key allies in the war against Afghanistan's Taliban militants pledged to stay the course yesterday as a suicide bomber killed 18 in the south and a blast killed an Italian Nato soldier.

The Taliban's intensified campaign against the government and foreign troops supporting it this year has spawned the worst violence since the hardline Islamists were ousted after the September 11 attacks in 2001.

Yesterday, the Taliban claimed responsibility for the suicide blast outside the governor's office in Lashkar Gah, capital of Helmand province. Nato troops were in the area at the time but none was hurt, an official said.

Most of those killed were civilians, many queuing to do paperwork for a pilgrimage to Mecca.

Near Kabul, a roadside bomb killed an Italian Nato soldier and seriously wounded two compatriots. The Taliban also claimed that attack.

US and Nato troops are up against a much more intense insurgency than expected and Nato has called for more troops from member nations.

Western governments say the mission, in a central battlefield in the war on terrorism, is essential but the violence is raising doubts and calls for troops to come home. In Washington, Afghan President Hamid Karzai met US President George W. Bush at the White House and again called for measures to prevent militants crossing the border from Pakistan to carry out attacks.

Mr Karzai is sceptical about a recent agreement Pakistan signed with Islamic militants in the border region under which Pakistan agreed to withdraw forces in return for a pledge from tribal leaders to stop cross-border attacks.

"The most important element here is item number one in this agreement: that the terrorists will not be allowed to cross over into Afghanistan to attack the coalition against terror," Mr Karzai said. "We will have to wait and see if that is going to be implemented exactly the way it is signed."

The sister of the Italian killed yesterday said the troops should leave.

"You can't let our boys be slaughtered like butcher's meat," said Barbara Langella. "It's not right that other families, other wives, other mothers, fathers and girlfriends, suffer like this again."

Italian President Giorgio Napolitano defended the Afghan mission, saying it was "indispensable." But the attack also stoked debate in the ruling centre-left coalition.