KABUL, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- A suicide bombing wounded three Afghan children and one British soldier of ISAF in the southern Helmand province of Afghanistan on Thursday, provincial police chief Mohammad Nabi Mullahkhil told Xinhua.

    "A bomber strapping explosives on his body, who was on foot, targeted a British military convoy in Lashkar Gah, the provincial capital, at around 11 a.m., injuring one soldier and three Afghan children playing around," Mullahkhil said.

    "It is too early to determine the bomber's identity as his body was completely smashed," he added.

    Meanwhile, Maj. Luke Knittig, a spokesman of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), told Xinhua that "We have read some media reports of the incident, but we can't confirm it and the ISAF casualties now as we haven't received information from the forces."

    About 4,000 British forces have been deployed in Helmand, famous for its gigantic opium product and rising violence, to fight militants and facilitate reconstruction there.

    A suicide car bombing killed three Afghan civilians and injured five persons including an ISAF solider in the neighboring Kandahar province on Monday.

    Because of inferiority in military equipment and tactics, Taliban and other militants have frequently carried suicide bombings towards foreign and government targets.

    Due to rising Taliban-linked violence this year, Afghanistan has plunged into the worst spate of bloodshed since the Taliban regime was toppled down nearly five years ago.

    Over 2,400 people, mostly Taliban rebels, have been killed in this volatile country this year. Enditem