Kabul - A suicide bomber detonated an explosives-laden car Tuesday near a convoy of German and Afghan troops in northern Afghanistan, killing himself but causing no other casualties, a provincial governor said.

The attack took place in the centre of the northern city of Kunduz, the capital of the province of the same name, when a joint Afghan and German military convoy was passing by, Governor Mohammad Omar said.

"No one was killed or wounded in the explosion as the bomber exploded himself some 100 metres from the convoy," Omar said.

"There was a big bang, and the window panes of several houses in the area, including mine, were broken," local resident Sayed Ahmad said.

Suspicion fell on the Taliban, the fundamentalist Islamic movement that once ruled Afghanistan, but Taliban spokesmen were not immediately available for comment on the bombing.

Northern provinces, including Kunduz, have been relatively calm compared with southern and eastern Afghanistan, where insurgents are the most active.

Taliban militants, who were ousted from power in late 2001, have waged a bloody insurgency against the Western-backed Afghan government and international forces in the country and recently have begun to largely rely on the use of suicide and roadside bombings.

In another suicide attack against German forces this month, the bomber and a civilian were killed while one German soldier was killed and three wounded in a roadside bombing in late August in Kunduz province.

More than 3,500 German soldiers are stationed in Kunduz and other northern provinces. The soldiers are part of the 53,000-strong, NATO-led International Security Assistance Force, which has been deployed from 40 nations. (dpa)