KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — A suicide car bomber attacked a NATO convoy crossing a bridge outside the southern Afghan city of Kandahar today, tossing a military vehicle into a ravine and killing one NATO service member and four Afghan civilians, officials said.

The attacker waited in a station wagon taxi near the bridge, which NATO troops regularly check for explosives, said Inhamullah Khan, an Afghan army official at the bombing site.

The attack killed one NATO service member, said Maj. Marcin Walczak of the Polish Army, a spokesman for the international military coalition. He did not provide the nationality or any other details.

The Interior Ministry confirmed four civilian deaths in a statement. Three of the civilians who died were in a car that had pulled over nearby to wait for the convoy to pass, Khan said.

Another car bomb today outside Kandahar city's police headquarters killed one police officer and wounded nine other officers and six civilians, provincial Police Chief Sardar Mohammad Zazai said.

Kandahar city is the capital of the province of the same name that is considered the spiritual birthplace of the Taliban. It lies east of Helmand province, where thousands of U.S., NATO and Afghan troops are conducting a 2-week-old offensive to wrest control of the town of Marjah from insurgents.

Marjah has long been controlled by the Taliban, and the assault is seen as the first step in a multi-month offensive that will eventually target insurgent strongholds around Kandahar city.

LONDON — British insurer Prudential said it will buy the Asian unit of American International Group in a deal worth $35.5 billion that will allow AIG to pay back some of the money it owes U.S. taxpayers.AIG, which was rescued in a $182.5 billion bailout by the U.S. government, will get $25 billion in cash — $20 billion of that from a Prudential rights issue — and $10.5 billion in new shares and securities for the sale of AIA Group Ltd.The combined group will be the leading life insurer in Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand and the Philippines, as well as the biggest foreign life insurer in China, Prudential said.

PARIS — France's interior minister says the death toll from a violent storm that lashed western France with hurricane-force winds has risen to 47. At least six people died in other countries.Most deaths are concentrated in France's Vendee region on the Atlantic coast.Minister Brice Hortefeux told France-Info radio today that the number of dead would "doubtless" increase as more than 9,000 rescue workers make house-to-house visits.The storm, named Xynthia, blew into France early Sunday, flooding ports, destroying homes and leaving 1 million households without electricity. President Nicolas Sarkozy is visiting the region today.