Kabul, May 23:

A suicide attacker on a motorbike exploded himself next to highway police guarding a road construction project in the Afghan capital today, killing one policeman and a civilian, officials said.

An SUV carrying foreigners that had its window shattered in the attack may have been the intended target, said Gen. Ali Shah Paktiawal, the Kabul police director of criminal investigations. The SUV drove off and officials didn’t know what group or country it was from.

One policeman and one civilian were killed in the blast, said Asid Arian, a district government official.

A report from Helsinki said the Finnish military confirmed today that one its soldiers had been killed in an explosion near a military base in northwestern Afghanistan.

“The explosion caused serious injuries to four persons. One of our Finnish peacekeepers died later,” army spokesman Lieutenant-colonel Mauri Koskela said.

Meanwhile, a report from Kunduz said the bodies of three German soldiers killed in a suicide blast in Afghanistan at the weekend were flown home today after a small ceremony.