Kabul - A suicide bomber detonated his explosive-laden vehicle outside a US military base in south-eastern Afghanistan on Monday, killing nine civilians and wounding 13 others, officials said.

The bomber attacked outside a compound in Khost province, killing nine labourers who were standing in line for a security check to enter the base, provincial governor Arsala Jamal told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

Kabul - The US military claimed Saturday to have killed more than three dozen Taliban militants in southern Afghanistan, and an unspecified number of others in the north-eastern region.

A military statement said joint Afghan and coalition forces were attacked by groups of Taliban militants in the southern region.

The combined forces responded by small-arms' fire and close air support and killed "more than three dozen militants over two days of fierce fighting," the statement said, but did not give any specific details of casualties.

Kabul - Three aid workers with the International Committee for the Red Cross and their Afghan driver were shot to death Wednesday in central Afghanistan, police said.

The aid workers, all women, were killed in the Qalah Rahmat area of Puli Alam, the capital of Logar province, Abdul Majeed Latifi, provincial security chief, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

"The workers are citizens of Ireland, Canada and the United States," said Latifi, who moved the aid workers' bodies to the provincial hospital.

Kabul , Aug. 11 : Australian Special Forces have captured a senior Taliban commander who was behind a wave of deadly roadside bombings.

Mullah Bari Ghul was captured in an operation last week, reports The Australian.

Bari Ghul was known as the shadow governor of Oruzgan province, a reference used by the Taliban to describe his status as the head of its underground operations in the southern province of Afghanistan.

Australian defence sources said that no Australian soldiers or Afghan civilians were hurt in the operation.

Kabul - Twenty Taliban militants including foreign fighters were killed and 14 others wounded in western Afghanistan, while five police and a child were killed in separate incidents, officials said Saturday.

The operation started in Seya Jangal area of Bala Bulok district in western Farah province after militants attacked a convoy of Afghan and coalition forces in the area, damaging a military tank, but causing no casualties, Abdul Raouf Ahmadi, spokesman for the police forces in western region said.

Kabul - A US-led coalition soldier was killed in a roadside explosion in western Afghanistan, while international forces killed four suspected Taliban militants in the south, the military said Friday.

The soldier was killed when the convoy he was traveling with struck a roadside bomb on Friday morning, the US military said in a statement.

The military did not disclose the name and nationality of the dead soldier or the exact location of the incident. Most coalition soldiers are from the United States.