Afghanistan violence: Kandahar car bomb 'kills nine'

Two car bombs have killed at least nine people in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar, officials say.

More than 60 people were wounded in the blasts, mostly civilians, police said.

The blasts happened in Aino Mina, an elite housing development on the outskirts of the city. It is thought families were dining nearby.

No group has so far said it carried out the attacks. Earlier this month a roadside bomb in Kandahar province killed at least 10 civilians.

The attack comes a day after a suicide attack in the capital, Kabul, killed 15 people including two US soldiers.

Javed Faisal, a spokesman for the Kandahar provincial governor, told the Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) that the bombings appeared to have targeted a police vehicle in the Aino Mena area, catching some officers but mostly civilians.

"There were two vehicle IEDs [improvised explosive devices]," he told the AFP news agency.

The Kandahar provincial media centre said the attack happened at 19:30 (15:00 GMT) and that many children were among the severely injured.

Correspondents say the Aino Mina development was conceived in 2002 and built by investors including President Hamid Karzai's businessman brother Mahmoud Karzai.

Most international troops are scheduled to leave Afghanistan by the end of 2014, and Afghan forces are due to take responsibility for the security of the whole country in the next few months, for the first time since 1992.