KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — A car bomb exploded today 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.

The blast occurred around 11:30 a.m. in a parking lot used by Afghans visiting Camp Nathan Smith in Kandahar city, said Gen. Shafiq Fazli, the police commander for southern Afghanistan. The base houses a few hundred Canadian soldiers, along with American military police and U.S. and Canadian government employees working on development projects.

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.

The blast destroyed 11 cars in the lot, along with about 50 motorcycles and more than a dozen bicycles.

MELBOURNE, Australia — A 15-month-old boy escaped with just a few cuts and bruises today after a train struck his stroller, which rolled onto the tracks when his grandmother looked away for just a moment.The dramatic escape came just seven months after another baby in the southern city of Melbourne survived a train striking his stroller, which also had rolled onto the tracks.Security camera footage of the latest incident shows the stroller rolling over the edge of the platform just as the train pulls into the station. The stroller is pushed a short distance down the tracks before the train comes to a halt in front of horrified people.The baby and his 3-year-old brother were being cared for by their grandmother. She told officials she saw the stroller on the platform, looked away for a moment, and turned back to see it on the track.Officials have not released the name of the grandmother, and paramedics said she was too distraught to talk.The boy was in stable condition at Royal Children's Hospital. He suffered some minor facial bruising and grazes to his head.