"Hundreds" of suicide attackers ready

The threat of violence came as several thousand people gathered in the town of Spin Boldak, on the border with Pakistan, to denounce a suicide attack there on Monday that killed 23.

"Hundreds of Afghan Taliban mujahideen are ready for suicide attacks," said the Taliban commander, Mullah Dadullah.

"They only await orders from the Taliban leadership," he said by satellite telephone from an undisclosed location.

Afghanistan has seen a wave of 19 suicide attacks in the past year, including 13 in the past 10 weeks, the United Nations says.

Security analysts suspect the Taliban have stepped up suicide attacks after seeing al Qaeda's success in Iraq.

The attacks have come as the United States hopes to cut back its troop strength in Afghanistan from more than 18,000 to 16,500 in the next few months.

Members of NATO, who have an Afghan peacekeeping force of almost 10,000, are due to increase their numbers to 15,000 and take over responsibilities from US forces in the restive south.