KABUL, Afghanistan — Afghans commemorated the fifth anniversary of the assassination of an iconic anti-Taliban commander Saturday under the shadow of the deadliest suicide bombing in Kabul since the overthrow of the hardline Islamic regime.

Afghan soldiers searched cars and set up checkpoints on roads leading into the city, a day after a car bomber rammed into a U.S. military convoy near the American Embassy, killing 16 people. Two U.S. soldiers were among 29 other people wounded in the attack, the most brazen yet on Kabul's heavily guarded center.

It was some of the worst violence in Afghanistan since the U.S.-led invasion that toppled the Taliban. On Saturday, NATO and Afghan forces killed more than 30 suspected Taliban militants and destroyed several insurgent compounds during a major offensive in southern Afghanistan, NATO said.

Attacks have been increasing in Kabul but remain rare compared to the country's south. Friday's blast revealed the lingering vulnerability of foreign troops, local forces and Afghan civilians to terrorist attacks almost five years after a pro-American government was installed.

Thousands of people attended a memorial ceremony for mujahedeen leader Ahmad Shah Massoud, who was killed in al-Qaida suicide bombing in northern Afghanistan two days before the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks in the United States.