Kabul  - US Defence Secretary Robert Gates arrived in Kabul on a surprise visit Tuesday for talks with coalition commanders and Afghan leader Hamid Karzai amid growing concerns that the resurgent Taliban are gaining strength.

Afghan and international military sources revealed that Gates was expected to hold talks with US-led coalition commanders on the ground to get first hand information on fight against the resurgent Taliban.

Kabul  - Afghan and NATO-led troops killed 11 suspected Taliban and detained 20 others in separate clashes and airstrikes in southern Afghanistan, the alliance said Tuesday.

Ten insurgents were killed in combat with the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Wardak province south-west of the capital, the alliance said in a statement.

The militants fired rockets at an ISAF base in Sayed Abad, on Kabul-Kandahar highway near Kabul city, the statement said, adding that NATO forces responded with artillery and close air support.

"After positive identification of the insurgents, aircraft engaged the insurgents with gunfire," the statement said.

Kabul - A bomb hidden in a motorbike was remotely detonated on Monday in western Afghanistan, killing two security guards and wounding seven others, police said.

The attack targeted Lal Mohammad Omarzai, district chief of Shindand district in Herat province, as he was entering the district headquarters compound Monday morning, western region police spokesman Abdul Raouf Ahmadi said.

"The bomb missed the district chief's vehicle but struck the second car, killing two bodyguards including Omarzai's son," Ahmadi said.

Kabul - A United Nations convoy was attacked by a suicide bomber in southern Afghanistan, close to the Pakistani border, killing two Afghan employees and wounding more than a dozen people, a police official said Sunday.

The bomber drove an explosive-filled vehicle into the UN convoy in Spin Boldak district of southern Kandahar province on Sunday morning, provincial police chief Matiullah Khan said.

Kabul - A United Nations convoy was attacked by a suicide bomber in southern Afghanistan, close to the Pakistani border, killing two Afghan employees and wounding more than a dozen people, a police official said Sunday.

The bomber drove an explosive-filled vehicle into the UN convoy in Spin Boldak district of southern Kandahar province on Sunday morning, provincial police chief Matiullah Khan said.

He said two Afghan doctors riding in the convoy were killed, and three other officials and at least 12 civilian passersby were injured in the attack which took place in the main market area.

Kabul - A United Nations convoy was attacked by a suicide bomber in southern Afghanistan, close to the Pakistani border, killing two Afghan employees and wounding more than a dozen people, a polic