KABUL: The governor of Afghanistan's troubled southern province of Kandahar narrowly escaped assassination Friday when a bomb exploded near his car as he was being driven to a mosque, his spokesman said.

Tooryalai Wesa was on his way to prayers marking the Eid al-Adha festival when a roadside bomb -- the weapon of choice for the Taliban -- detonated, Zalmai Ayobi told AFP.

"Today at 9:30 am (0500 GMT) in Kandahar city the governor was on his way to Eid Gah mosque when a roadside bomb exploded near his vehicle, which was the target," he said.

The governor was not hurt, but the windows of his vehicle were blown out and a police officer was wounded, he said.

Wesa's convoy continued to the mosque without further incident, Ayobi said.

Afghanistan's Taliban-led insurgency is concentrated in the country's south, notably Kandahar and Helmand provinces.

Roadside bombs are cheap and easy to make, and have become the pivot on which the Taliban insurgency is turning.

They are often detonated by remote control, from distances of up to two kilometres (1.2 miles) by militants skilled at adapting the design of the bombs to beat the increasingly fortified vehicles they are targeting.

The toll on foreign and Afghan forces fighting the Taliban is high, with almost 500 soldiers deployed under US and NATO command dead so far this year.

In Farah province, an emerging Taliban hotbed, a suicide bomber detonated an explosives-packed vest killing three policemen at a security post in Bala Buluk district on Friday, said provincial governor Rohul Amin Amin.

In eastern Kunar province, where Taliban activity has also escalated this year, the acting police chief said an airstrike by NATO forces killed a Taliban leader and four of his men.

A well-known insurgent leader called Dawran with four of his men "was killed in a coalition forces air strike" late Thursday in the Karangal area of Manogai district, said Abdul Saboor Allahyar.

A relative of Dawran's confirmed the family compound had been bombed but said Dawran was still alive, charging that two of his sons and two neighbours had been killed.

The NATO-run International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) confirmed an air strike targeted a Taliban commander in a remote part of eastern Afghansitan.

"A Taliban commander known for attacking innocent civilians in the Kunar region, as well as international forces and bases, was the target of this precision strike. Assessment of the strike continues," the force said.