Police official Moham-mad Nabi said the car bomber drove into a compound where foreigners live and detonated his vehicle after guards opened the gate. Two other security sources who asked not to be named said at least six people had died, including at least three foreigners.
The blast destroyed several shops and charred vehicles. It was unclear if the attack was carried out by a suicide bomber, said Mohammad Nabi, a policeman at the scene. Earlier this week, a group of three suicide bombers tried to seize the main intelligence building in Kandahar in a brazen daylight raid.
In the biggest attack in the city this year, Taliban suicide bombers killed more than 30 people in a series of strikes across the city last month. The bulk of the 30,000 additional combat troops ordered to Afghanistan by US President Barack Obama last year are expected to be deployed to Kandahar as part of the summer campaign to root out the Taliban from their spiritual homeland. Residents and security officials say the insurgent group has been waging a campaign of intimidation and attacks in an effort to forcibly drum up local support and hamper operations aimed at winning the trust of ordinary Afghans. —Reuters