Two Afghan civilians were killed and 13 others were wounded on Monday in a two-pronged insurgent attack in southern Kandahar province's capital, local officials said.

The first incident happened at 2:20 PM in the Ojak Ba Ba area of Kandahar city's fourth district when a motorbike strapped with explosives, and travelling with three people on it, detonated without an apparent target, provincial spokesman Jawid Faisal said.

Two people were killed, not including the three on the bike, and six others were wounded. The injured are being treated at a nearby hospital in the city, Faisal said.

Later reports said the bike and those on it may have been intending to join the subsequent attack on the provincial police headquarters except the explosives detonated earlier than planned.

About an hour later, a number of armed men - possibly only two - attacked the Kandahar police HQ, starting a gunfight with the Afghan security forces, Faisal said.
Two policemen and five civilians, including an Afghan woman, were wounded.

The clash ended after about an hour with the death of two insurgents in the area, he said.

"The exact number of insurgents who attacked at police headquarters is unclear, but police have found the bodies of two insurgents and started a clearance operation in the area," he said.

Meanwhile, witnesses told the local TOLOnews reporter that they "heard a heavy explosion in the area".

No group, including the Taliban, has claimed responsibility for the attacks.

It was not the first time the insurgents have targeted the building. The Taliban attacked the headquarters in May, killing five policemen.

Their biggest attack on the headquarters happened in February last year, which left 15 policemen and four civilians dead, with dozens of others wounded.

Provincial police chief Abdul Razaq, who the Taliban has said is one of their prime targets, was not harmed in today's attack.