KABUL, Jan. 2 (Xinhuanet) -- A suicide bomb explosion rattled Afghanistan's southern Kandahar province, the former stronghold of Taliban, leaving three persons including the attacker himself deadon Monday morning, police said.

    "A car laden with explosive device exploded 30 minutes ago killing the suicide bomber and two passersby including a woman and her daughter in Kandahar city," Abdul Hakim Khan, police chief of Kandahar city told Xinhua.

    He did not provide more details, but locals believed the target had been the U.S.-led coalition troops.

    Some eyewitnesses said that a U.S. army vehicle was slightly damaged in the incident.

    Suspected Taliban remnants carried out a series of suicide attacks in the past two months.

    Remnants of the former Taliban regime, which collapsed four years ago have intensified their attacks since early last year, during which over 1,500 people with majority of them rebels were killed.

    A senior Taliban commander Mullah Dadullah claimed last week that the militants had recruited 200 suicide attackers to target Afghan and American-dominated foreign troops in the country. Enditem