The four-vehicle convoy was preparing to set out for Helmand Province when a bomber drove an explosives-laden vehicle at it, the BBC reported. Many of the dead were civilians, including passengers in a minibus that happened to be in the area.

The bombing was the second suicide attack in Kandahar in two days. A district governor and his three children were killed in an attack Friday.

Kandahar is the southern headquarters of the NATO operation in Afghanistan, but the area around the city is also a Taliban stronghold.