Taliban militants in a suicide car bombing attack on foreign military convoy in Afghanistan's troubled southern Kandahar province Monday killed 37 civilians, Afghan Interior Ministry said.

The blast took place around 3 p.m. (GMT1030) in Spin Boldak near a market when a convoy of foreign troops was passing the area, according to Afghan Interior Ministry officials.

While condemning the "terrorist attack," Afghan Interior Ministry in a statement issued hours later said 30 others also sustained injuries in the blast attack, the second deadly one in Kandahar, the birthplace of Taliban militants, over the past two days.

It did not identify the injured but Asadullah Khalid, governor of Kandahar province earlier told media that three Canadian soldiers were among the injured.

Qari Yousuf Ahmadi, a spokesman for the Taliban, which fighting against Afghan government and foreign troops since it was removed from power in late 2001, claimed that it was responsible for the blast, adding 10 foreign soldiers and "a number of" Afghan policemen were killed in the latest bombing attack.

Some 2,500 Canadian troops which are under NATO command often patrol parts of the volatile province.

Spin Boldak, a border town linking Kandahar to Pakistan's Baluchistan province, has been considered a hotbed of Taliban insurgents in the southern region.

Sunday's suicide blast attack on a dog-fighting competition ground on west edge of Kandahar city killed over 100 people and wounded dozens others.    

(Xinhua News Agency February 19, 2008)