1st LD Writethru: Suicide car bombing rocks S. Afghanistan, injuring 2

A suicide car bombing rocked Kandahar city, the provincial capital of southern Afghanistan's Kandahar province Sunday morning, killing the attacker and injuring two persons, police said.

The blast took place at around 9:50 a.m. (0520 GMT) in Hino Meena locality, a police officer told Xinhua anonymously, adding "one child and a policeman were wounded as a result of the blast, and were shifted to a nearby hospital."

The police have initiated an investigation into the incident, he added.

Sayyed Jan Khakrizwal, head of provincial council, was the potential target of the attack but his bombproof vehicle had passed the area before the explosion, unofficial sources said.

The blast also damaged nearby houses and shattered the windowpanes of several buildings near the site.

Kandahar is notorious for poppy growing and militancy.

No group has claimed responsibility yet for the attack, but the Taliban insurgent group routinely claims responsibility for such attacks.

The Taliban has intensified attacks with a string of bombings over the past couple of months as the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) assumed earlier this month the full security charges from NATO-led troops after a four-year security transition process ended on Dec. 31 last year.

About 10,000 civilians were killed and injured in Taliban-led insurgency and conflicts in the central Asian country in 2014, according to UN mission officials. Endi