Officials near bodies in a hospital in Spin Boldak, Afghanistan. (AFP)

Kandahar, Feb. 18 (Reuters): A suicide bomber targeting a foreign military convoy in Afghanistan killed 37 civilians in an attack near the Pakistan border today, the interior ministry said.

The attack, a day after more than 100 people were killed in the deadliest suspected suicide raid since the Taliban were overthrown in 2001, comes as some western politicians call for a stronger resolve to stop Afghanistan sliding back into anarchy.

“The suicide attack... caused the killing of 37 non-combatants and wounding of 30 others,” the ministry said in a statement in Kabul.

The attack took place on a narrow bridge in the bustling town of Spin Boldak in southern Kandahar province, a stronghold for Taliban insurgents fighting the Afghan government and its western backers.

Kandahar’s governor Assadullah Khalid told a news conference that the bomber was in a car and had attacked a convoy of Canadian troops serving under Nato’s command. Four Canadians were wounded, he said. But another official from the area said two foreign soldiers also died.

A Nato spokesman in Kabul confirmed the blast, but refused to provide more details. Several fuel shops were on fire in Spin Boldak.