Kabul, Sep 29 : At least 27 people were killed and several others were injured when a suicide bomber boarded a crowded army bus here and detonated a huge bomb, officials said.

A high-ranking Afghan army medical official said 27 bodies had been taken to two hospitals.

Witnesses said that the bus was destroyed by the blast and several dead bodies can be seen around the wreckage.

The bus was completely destroyed by the blast and shop windows were shattered all around.

Kabul, Sep 27 : Two foreign employees of the International Red Cross have been abducted in Wardak province in southern Afghanistan.

The area police chief General Ewaz Muslimyar said that the two were kidnapped along with their two Afghan drivers while travelling in Salar district.

The Red Cross office in Kabul has not yet commented on the report.

The number of kidnappings has soared in Afghanistan where foreign and Afghan troops are battling Taliban insurgents.

Kabul, Sep 27 : US-led coalition troops backed by warplanes have killed about 170 Taliban militants in two major battles in southern Afghanistan. A US-led coalition soldier has also died in the operation.

Fighting with the insurgents erupted on Tuesday in Helmand, a Taliban stronghold, and continued till Wednesday, a statement from the US-led coalition said.

"The initial estimate by a ground forces commander assessed that more than 104 insurgents were killed thus far in the engagement," it said. The figures could not be verified independently.

Kabul, Sep 26 : At least sixty Taliban fighters were killed in Afghanistan's southern Helmand on Wednesday.