Kabul - A British soldier, two Afghan policemen and five militants were killed in separate clashes and blasts in the latest violence erupting in Afghanistan, officials said Tuesday.

A British soldier serving in the NATO-led international forces was killed by "enemy fire" in Gerishk district of the southern Helmand province on Monday, the fifth to die in less than week in the province, the British Defence Ministry said in a statement.

More than 8,000 British soldiers are part of some 50,00-strong NATO-led troops stationed in Afghanistan. Most of the British soldiers are deployed in volatile province of Helmand.

The NATO alliance in Kabul also confirmed the death of the soldier.

Three militants, who were trying to plant a roadside bomb along a well-travelled road in Deh Rawood district of the southern Uruzgan province, where killed on Monday when it the explosive device detonated, the US military said in a statement.

Two militants died on the spot, while the third succumbed to his injuries in a coalition military hospital, the statement said.

Two policemen and a militant were killed in an exchange of fire when a group of insurgents attacked a police checkpoint in Lashkargah, the provincial capital for Helmand province on Monday, Assadullah Shirzad, provincial police chief, said.

Afghan national army soldiers identified and shot a suicide bomber, who tried to attack a government office in Yaqoubi district in the south-eastern province of Khost, also on Monday, Afghan defence ministry said in a statement.

After being wounded, the bomber detonated his explosive-packed vehicle, killing himself and wounding an army soldier, the statement said.

Seven years since the ouster of Taliban regime, the southern and eastern regions of Afghanistan are still plagued by a bloody insurgency waged by Taliban fighters. The militants have steadily gained power in larger swathes of the country over the past two years.

More than 4,000 people - mostly insurgents, but including more than 200 foreign troops and hundreds of Afghan civilians and security personnel have been killed in the first eight months of this year, according to report by United Nations.

Thousands more have been killed in the conflict in the past three months. (dpa)