Kabul - A suicide bomber wounded four Afghan army soldiers in south-eastern Afghanistan, while 10 Taliban militants were killed elsewhere in the country, officials said on Monday.

The suicide bomber, who had tied explosives around his body, attacked a group of Afghan army soldiers in Barmal district, near the border with Pakistan on Monday morning, Colonel Mohammad Gul, army spokesman in the region said.

He said that the bomber died in the attack and four army soldiers were "slightly wounded."

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid, who was talking by phone to Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa from an undisclosed location, said that 14 Afghan and foreign soldiers were killed in their attack.

Taliban's assertions regarding the death toll of Afghan and international military forces are often proven to be false or exaggerated.

In another incident in southern Ghazni province, at least eight militants were killed and a similar number were wounded in a clash with Afghan police backed by coalition forces in Andar district of the province, Mohammad Zaman Zazai, deputy provincial police chief said.

He said that no Afghan police were hurt in the fighting that took place in Sardar Qala area of the district on Monday morning.

Two Taliban militants were killed in southern Logar province as the mine they were trying to plant on a road in Pul-e-Alam, the provincial capital, exploded prematurely on Sunday night, Ali Haidar, a police official in the province said.

Also on Sunday, US-led coalition forces arrested ten suspected militants in Paktika province in the south-eastern region and in southern Helmand province during anti-terrorism operations.

Taliban-led violence is on the rise in Afghanistan despite the presence of some 70,000 international forces in the country. Taliban regime was ousted in a US military invasion in late 2001 for harbouring Osama bin Laden, the mastermind of attacks on US cities on September 11, 2001. (dpa)