Kabul - Two army soldiers were killed in a roadside attack in southern Afghanistan, while 25 Taliban fighters including a female militant were killed in fight with Afghan and coalition forces elsewhere in the country, officials said Saturday.

The two Afghan soldiers were killed and two others were wounded when their vehicle was blown up by a roadside bomb blast in the Yakhchal area of Gerishk district in southern Helmand province on Friday, the Afghan defence ministry said in a statement.

Kabul- A suicide bomber detonated his explosives-filled vest inside a ministry in the centre of Kabul Thursday, killing five people and wounding 12, while four police officers were killed in a roadside blast in southern Afghanistan, officials said.

Security guards at the Ministry of Information and Culture opened fire on the bomber but he managed to enter the building and blow himself up, said a ministry official, who did not want to be named.

Witness Mahmoud Jan said he heard of small-arms fire after the blast.

Kabul- A suicide bomber detonated his explosives-filled vest inside a ministry in the centre of Kabul Thursday, killing five people and wounding six while four police officers were killed in a roadside blast in southern Afghanistan, officials said.

Security guards at the Ministry of Information and Culture opened fire on the bomber but he managed to enter the building and blow himself up, said a ministry official, who did not want to be named.

Witness Mahmoud Jan said he heard sounds of small-arms fire after the blast.

Kabul  - A suicide bomber detonated his explosives-filled vest inside a ministry in the centre of Kabul Thursday, killing five people and wounding six while four police officers were killed in a roadside blast in southern Afghanistan, officials said.

Security guards at the Ministry of Information and Culture opened fire on the bomber but he managed to enter the building and blow himself up, said a ministry official, who did not want to be named.

Witness Mahmoud Jan said he heard sounds of small-arms fire after the blast.

Kabul - A suicide bomber detonated his explosive-filled vest inside a ministry in the centre of Kabul Thursday morning, causing up to five casualties, an interior ministry spokesman said.

The bomber entered inside the Ministry of Information and Culture in a busy area in the heart of city, Zemarai Bashary, interior ministry spokesman told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

"So far we can confirm that five people were killed or wounded," he said, adding that the number of casualties "might go up as we are still helping with evacuation."

Kabul  - US forces killed 12 militants after suspected Taliban insurgents shot down an American helicopter in central Afghanistan, the US military said Tuesday.

The incident happened Monday in the Sayed Abad district of Wardak province, 50 kilometres west of Kabul, when a rocket-propelled grenade hit the tail of the UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter, forcing it to the ground, the US military said in a statement.

The crew members on board returned fire and killed five militants, it said.

Seven other militants were killed and another one was detained when the US soldiers continued searching the area and were engaged by more militants, the statement said.