KABUL, September 14, 2008 (AFP) - A UN driver and two doctors working for the body's World Health Organisation were killed in a suicide car bombing in southeastern Afghanistan Sunday, the UN special representative said.

Police said earlier that two doctors were killed in the bombing near the town of Spin Boldak close to the border with Pakistan. The insurgent Taliban movement said it had carried out the attack.

The bomb hit a UN road convoy at about 9:40 am, UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) chief in Afghanistan, Kai Eide, said in a statement.

'Those who died in the convoy were a UNAMA driver, and two doctors working under contract with the World Health Organisation in combating polio in Afghanistan. All three were Afghan nationals,' he said.

Several bystanders were caught in the blast and the UN was confirming their status, the statement said. The health ministry said separately around 18 people were wounded in the blast.

'This attack was on innocent civilians working only for the people of Afghanistan, and is beyond comprehension,' Eide said.