US-led forces under heavy fire in Afghan south

KABUL - Taleban militants killed one US-led coalition soldier and wounded 11 others in heavy fighting in southern Afghanistan on Monday, while a justice department chief was killed in a suicide bomb attack.

Foreign troops operating in Tarin Kot district of Uruzgan province came under heavy fire after attacking and destroying a truck which insurgents were loading with mortar equipment, the US-led coalition said in a statement.

It was not clear if any Taleban fighters were killed.

Earlier a suicide bomber struck inside a compound of government buildings in Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand province which has been the focus of fierce fighting between US-led forces and militants in recent weeks.

"The three people killed apart from the suicide bomber are government officials including the head of justice department of Helmand," said Mahaiuddin, a spokesman for the provincial governor. The compound stands opposite the police headquarters.

It was the second such attack in as many days targeting Afghan government offices. Five people were killed in a suicide strike on Sunday in the southeast town of Gardez.

Coalition forces earlier said they had killed four suspected al Qaeda fighters during a raid in Khost province, east of Kabul and once a stronghold of Osama bin Laden. Three other suspected al Qaeda members were captured during the raid.

Residents in the town said one of those killed was a cleric.

In a separate incident in Khost province, unidentified gunmen kidnapped 40 men from a village near the border with Pakistan overnight after a brief clash in which two women were wounded, Khost's police chief Mohammad Ayoub told Reuters.

He said the gunmen infiltrated the area from Pakistan where they went back after seizing the men from Sabiri village, which is largely pro-government.

Foreign troops are engaged in a big offensive against militants in the south, where a NATO peacekeeping force will take over from the US-led coalition at the end of the month.

Bulgaria said it was sending on Monday its first group of a 70-member contingent to Afghanistan to look after security at Kabul airport for five months starting in August.

"The whole contingent will be in place in Kabul by the end of the month," a Defence Ministry spokeswoman said.

Militant leader captured

After days of some of the heaviest fighting since the fall of the Taleban in 2001, coalition forces said they had destroyed a "safe house" of a Taleban commander in Sangin district in Helmand province.

The US military said the raid was conducted on Sunday night, but they did not name the commander who was targeted.

Foreign forces also said they had a captured a militant leader in the largely peaceful north of the country, along with a large cache of weapons.

Amir Gul Hassanyar was captured south of Kunduz on Sunday and is believed to be responsible for numerous attacks using improvised explosive devices, as well as trafficking in illegal weapons and drugs, a coalition statement said.

Three Afghan soldiers were killed on Monday when a roadside bomb hit their convoy in Girishk district of Helmand.

A member of parliament said Taleban fighters had taken control in a thinly populated southern district of Helmand.

The Taleban had occupied Garmser district overnight without any resistance, Sher Mohammad Akhundzada said.

- REUTERS