Twin blasts kill 9, wounds 55 in Afghanistan's Kandahar

At least nine people were killed and more than 55 others wounded Friday evening when two back-to-back explosions rocked Kandahar city, capital of the southern Afghan province of Kandahar, a provincial government spokesman said.

"The initial reports said that three police officers and six civilians had died and over 55 wounded in two explosions which took place in Hyno area of the city Friday evening," spokesman Jawid Faisal told Xinhua, adding that the wounded included 47 civilians and eight policemen.

The blasts were car bombings as explosives were placed in two cars parked in the area, and the obvious target was a police convoy passing by the area, said Faisal.

He said investigation was kicked off.

However, a security source told Xinhua earlier that the second blast was suicide car bombing.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, but the Taliban was suspected of carrying out such attack.

The Taliban-led insurgency has been rampant since the militant group launched an annual rebel offensive late last month against Afghan government forces and about 100,000 NATO-led troops stationed in the country.

This is the second attack to take place in two days in the insurgency-hit country.

On Thursday morning, six U.S. personnel and nine Afghan civilians were killed and 40 civilians wounded when a suicide car bombing hit a two-vehicle convoy of the coalition in a residential area in Kabul.