At least eight people were killed in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar on Sunday in a suicide car bombing against NATO troops and subsequent gunfire by soldiers, police and witnesses said. Three civilians died when the bomber struck a military convoy and five more were shot by troops afterwards, they said. NATO said three of its soldiers were wounded in the attack for which the Taliban claimed responsibility. Asked about the accounts of troops shooting civilians, NATO spokesman Major Luke Knittig said: “We will establish the facts. It is still unclear in what way the troops reacted.” Another Afghan civilian was killed and six others were injured as NATO troops opened fire on a civilian car, fearing it might be a second bombing attempt after the early morning attack in the Dorahi area of Kandahar, they said. Meanwhile, the Taliban said on Sunday they had shot down a US civilian helicopter chartered by NATO that crashed in bad weather in southern Afghanistan. “The chopper has crashed and there have been mortalities. We do not know how many,” said Interior Ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary said, adding that the cause of Saturday’s crash in a remote area of southern Kandahar province was not known. Asked about a Taliban spokesman’s claim of responsibility, he said: “I cannot deny or confirm that.”