Taliban-linked militants and their associates apparently begun copying the untraditional Iraqi militias-style deadly tactic, the "suicide attacks", as they carried three suicide bomb attacks in the post-Taliban country in a single day on Monday.

The fatal and uncommon attacks to Afghans, which rocked the southern Kandahar province, and its neighbors, Uruzgan and Helmand, wounded at least three soldiers of the U.S.-dominated coalition forces besides leaving two suspected suicide bombers dead.

Carrying suicide attacks is uncommon in Afghanistan, which the Afghans did not commit even during the war against the former Soviet Union forces.

The first suicide attack shocked Taliban's former stronghold Kandahar in the rush hour this morning, injuring two soldiers and damaged one vehicle.

"We have one vehicle damaged and two coalition personnel were wounded," Quentin Innis, spokesman 0f the U.S.-led coalition forces, told newsmen at the site of the explosion.

The explosion, he said, was caused by an Improvised Explosive Device (IED).

The second and third suicide bomb attacks targeted Afghan National Army (ANA) and foreign troops in the volatile Helmand and Uruzgan provinces respectively and left two suicide bombers dead and wounded two others including a foreign soldier.

"A suicide bomber driving Corolla car rammed onto coalition troops' convoy in Uruzgan's provincial capital Trinkot this morning, killing himself and wounding two others including a foreign trooper," Uruzgan's provincial police chief Rozi Khan told Xinhua.

However, he could not identify the nationality of the foreign soldier and the U.S. military and NATO forces have yet to make any comment on the subject.

Another suicide bomber attacked a caravan of ANA in Greshk district of Helmand province at 8 o'clock Monday morning and left himself dead and failed to cause any life or property damage to the soldiers.

"Enemies riding a car laden with explosive material detonated himself on the way of ANA caravan, killing himself on the spot and inflicted no damage to us," General Rahmatullah Raufi the Corps Commander of southern region told Xinhua.

The new surge in militants' attack is taking place amid frequent Taliban threat that hundreds of the former regime's loyalists volunteered to carry on suicide attacks.

Taliban's key commander Mullah Dadullah warned early in the year that over 200 of the fundamentalist movement's loyalists had registered to conduct suicide attacks.

Later on, another Taliban commander Mullah Razayar Nawrozi put the number suicide attackers in the outfit as high as 600.

"We have recruited 600 suicide bombers to target foreign and government troops and we also fixed 2,000 U.S. dollars bounty for the head of any foreign soldier, and any one was able to kill a foreign soldier will receive the prize," he told certain media from unknown locations two month ago.

Kandahar, Helmand, Zabul and Uruzgan, commonly known as the heartland of Taliban, have been the scene of increasing militancy over the past two years and more than 300 people including 15 American have lost their lives in Taliban-led insurgency since the beginning of this year.

Taliban militants, whose regime was ousted by a U.S.-led military campaign in late 2001, have vowed to overthrow President Hamid Karzai's government and expel the U.S.-dominated foreign forces from the country.

To achieve the goal, the militants have speed up their hit-and- run attacks as well as suicide bombing ahead of NATO troops' deployment in the restive southern region.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization has decided to increase its military strength from some 10,000-strong troops to 15,000 this year and the Britain as a key member of the military pact has already begun deploying troops to Helmand province.

Taliban's commander Nawrozi, in his reaction two months ago, said that stationing more foreign troops would make their prey easy and they would welcome them by conducting fatal suicide attacks.

To root out the insurgents, Afghan and coalition troops launched a mop up in the southern region last week and according to official sources 35 militants have been killed in Kandahar and Helmand provinces respectively.

Source: Xinhua