MAZAR-I-SHARIF, Afghanistan - A suicide attacker blew himself up in a bazaar in the northern Afghan town of Kunduz on Saturday, killing three German soldiers and six Afghans, a provincial governor told AFP.


‘Three of our German friends were killed and two were wounded. One Afghan interpreter was also wounded,’ Kunduz governor Mohammad Omar said.

Six Afghans were killed and 12 others wounded, six of them critically, he said.

The German soldiers had been shopping in a bazaar called the Tea Market. All that was left of the bomber was two legs, Omar said.

NATO’s International Security Assistance Force said there had been an explosion and casualties but it could not immediately release details.

The German military based in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif said it could not yet release any information.

Germany has around 3,000 troops in Afghanistan, operating largely in the north of the country. Twenty-one have lost their lives in Afghanistan since 2002, including the soldiers 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 inside the country.

The north of Afghanistan has seen relatively little of the violence linked to a Taleban-led insurgency plaguing the south and east. The Taleban vowed last month to intensify attacks in the north.

On April 16 a Taleban suicide bomber blew himself up among policemen doing their morning exercises in Kunduz, killing nine and wounding 25.