KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Dispatches) – A car bomb exploded Wednesday outside a small NATO military base in southern Afghanistan's largest city, wounding two Afghans and destroying several cars, police said.

It was the latest in a string of bold attacks on high-profile NATO targets in the past two weeks, following a Taliban announcement of a spring offensive against alliance and Afghan forces — their response to the Obama administration's vow to squeeze the militants out of Kandahar province strongholds.
Fazli said no one was killed. A police officer said at least one security guard and one Afghan who works at the base were wounded.
Wednesday's blast destroyed 11 cars that were parked in the lot, along with about 50 motorcycles and more than a dozen bicycles, the Interior Ministry said in a statement. The bomb was placed in a Toyota Corolla in the lot, it said.
The string of attacks began on May 18, when a Taliban suicide bomber attacked a NATO convoy in the capital, killing 18 people including six NATO service members — five Americans and a Canadian.
Meanwhile a British soldier, from 4th Regiment the Royal Artillery, died after being shot in a fight with insurgents in the Nahr-e Saraj area of Helmand province Wednesday morning.
Photo: A private security guard stands near a site of a car bomb explosion in Kandahar, Afghanistan, Wednesday, May 26, 2010. (Photo: AP/Allauddin Khan)