Afghan car bomb attack near base

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The aftermath of the blast outside Kandahar airbase

At least two people have been killed and many others wounded in a suicide bombing near a major Nato base in southern Afghanistan, officials say.

The attacker blew up his minivan at a checkpoint outside Kandahar airfield on the outskirts of Kandahar city.

Taliban spokesman, Yousuf Ahmadi, says the group was responsible for the attack, the AFP news agency reports.

The attack came as thousands of US and UK forces are engaged in an offensive against the Taliban in the south.

Operation Khanjar in the neighbouring province of Helmand is the first concerted attempt by US President Obama to turn the tide in the conflict against the Taliban, correspondents say.

Afghan army corps officer Gen Shair Mohammad Zazai said that the bomber was on the road which led to Kandahar city when he was stopped at the checkpoint.

He detonated the car bomb while in a queue to be searched, Gen Zazai said.

The base is a major centre for international forces, but no foreign soldier is reported to have been injured in the attack.