Kabul  - A suicide bomber on Friday targeted a foreign military convoy while the US-led coalition killed several militants and a civilian woman in eastern Afghanistan, officials said.

The suicide car blast in the eastern province of Nangarhar only killed the bomber, said Abdul Ghafoor, spokesman for the Nangarhar police department.

The bombing took place in the Bareekab area on the Jalalabad-Torkham highway, the spokesman said without providing information about any casualties among the foreign troops or their nationalities.

Most foreign soldiers stationed in the province are American.

It was the second suicide attack on foreign troops in Nangarhar this month. The first killed two Americans and wounded five civilians.

Meanwhile, several militants were killed during an operation to disrupt anti-government operations in the eastern province of Paktia, US-led coalition forces said Friday.

A military statement issued from the US airbase at Bagram outside Kabul said coalition forces searched several compounds Thursday in the Zurmat district while targeting two militant leaders suspected of facilitating foreign fighter attacks against Afghan and coalition forces.

The coalition forces were engaged by armed militants from one of the compounds, the statement said. The force responded with small-arms fire and airstrikes, killing several militants and a woman who was located with the attacking militants in the building.

"One militant detonated a suicide-vest explosion in the compound, killing only himself," the statement said.

In another development, Afghan border security forces arrested two militants in a vehicle packed with explosives, also in Paktia.

A statement issued by the Afghan Interior Ministry said remote-control bombs and other explosives material were recovered from the detained militants. (dpa)