Three dead in Afghan car bomb

At least three people have been killed and about 20 wounded in a car bomb explosion in the centre of the southern Afghan city of Kandahar, police say.

The dead were police officers, teachers and other officials who had lined up outside a bank to collect their salaries, officials told the BBC.

Some reports say that the car was driven by a suicide bomber.

Kandahar is a Taliban stronghold and has seen some of the worst fighting this year between militants and Nato.

The blast went off outside the Kabul Bank – the country’s largest bank – which pays the salaries of public servants.

‘‘We have blocked all roads going towards and away from the bank in the centre of the city,” an intelligence source told the BBC.

“We knew that the enemy wanted to attack this location. We had done all we could to prevent it from happening.’’

A local businessman at the scene described hearing “a big bang before everyone started running”.

“Bank guards and the police were firing in the air after someone shouted there was a suicide attacker in the crowd,” he said.