The police chief of Afghanistan's restive Kandahar province has escaped a suicide bombing outside his office.

Authorities say the attacker entered the police station in southern Kandahar city Wednesday, posing as a resident who wanted to file a complaint.

Officials say he managed to make it to the waiting room outside the office of the police chief, General Abdul Razaq, before detonating his explosives. Razaq was not hurt in the blast, which killed no one other than the bomber.

The Afghan interior ministry says police have launched a probe into the attack.

Last April, the then police chief of Kandahar, Khan Mohammad Mujahid, was killed in a suicide bombing near his office. The Taliban claimed responsibility for that attack.