KANDAHAR: An Afghan provincial official says a motorcycle bomb was remotely detonated on Friday in a crowded market in the country's south, killing five people and wounding eight.

Omar Zawaq, the spokesman for the governor of southern Helmand province, says the motorcycle exploded on Friday in the center of the market in Marjah. It's a restive district, about 25 kilometers (15 miles) from the provincial capital of Lashkar Gah.

No one immediately took responsibility for the bombing, but the area has a heavy presence of Taliban insurgents.

Marjah was the site of one of the largest US and Afghan offensives in 2010.

However, the Taliban have slowly returned to areas from which they were previously driven out. Local residents say Taliban rule in nearly 80 per cent of the province.