1st LD: At least 20 killed in car bombing in S. Afghanistan

At least 20 people were killed and several others wounded after a suicide car bomb rocked near a police checkpoint in Lashkar Gah, capital of Afghanistan's southern Helmand province on Monday, sources said.

"The bombing that occurred at around mid-day is part of Taliban's coordinated attack. They are trying to capture the control of the city but our security forces are fighting to push them back," a provincial security source told Xinhua anonymously.

Most of the killed were police personnel and the number of the death is likely to rise as the injured were shifted to several hospitals, he said.

"More details would be made public later as investigation is underway to find more facts about the incident," the source said, adding that more than two dozen people were also wounded by the explosion.

Earlier on Monday, the Taliban seized control of several security checkpoints after heavy clashes in eastern districts of the city, 555 km south of the Afghan capital of Kabul.

The Taliban has been attempting to tighten the siege of city amid security forces' counter-offensives to dislodge the attacking militants over the past couple of months.

Helmand, notorious for poppy growing, is also a known Taliban stronghold.

The latest clashes have forced hundreds of families in Helmand to leave their houses for safer places. Enditem