A bomber has detonated a car bomb near a Canadian armoured vehicle in southern Afghanistan, killing himself but causing no casualties to Canadian troops, the Afghan army said.

The blast on Friday occurred in Daman district, about 15km south of the city of Kandahar and about 10km from the airport on Friday, where Canadian troops are based.

General Rahmatullah Raufi, commander of the Afghan army's southern region, said  "a car full of explosives blew up near a Canadian armoured vehicle. The bomber was killed, but there were no casualties among Canadian forces".

He said the blast caused some damage to the armoured vehicle.

However, a Qatar News Agency report said, quoting local police, that at least one Canadian soldier was injured.

It also quoted Qari Yousif Ahmadi, a self-declared Taliban spokesman, as saying that a Taliban loyalist from Kandahar carried out the attack.

A spokesman for the US-led foreign force in Afghanistan said he was checking reports of the blast but had no details.

Canada has 2300 troops based in Kandahar, an area troubled by Taliban fighters.

The troops have come under attack several times in recent months.
Friday's blast came a day after a Canadian soldier was killed and seven injured, two of them critically, when their vehicle overturned on a road leading west from Kandahar.

PHOTO CAPTION

Canadian soldiers stand guard at a street in Kandahar. (AFP)