'Taleban' killed in Afghan clash

The bicycle loaded with explosives detonated injuring Nato troops

At least 11 suspected Taleban militants and one soldier have been killed in clashes in the southern Afghan province of Helmand, officials said.

Helmand's Deputy Governor Amir Mohammad Akhunzada told the BBC the army carried out operations in Gul Haji Qala village in Kajaki district.

Three militants were arrested and weapons seized from them, he said.

Earlier, three Nato soldiers were slightly injured in a bomb explosion in the capital, Kabul, officials said.

Afghan interior ministry spokesman Yousuf Stanizai said the bomb, which went off in Khayrkhana district during the morning rush hour, appeared to have been fixed to a bicycle.

'Suicide' attack

He blamed the attack on the "enemies of Afghanistan", usually a reference to the Taleban insurgents.

A top police official in Kabul, General Ali Shah Paktiwal, told the BBC that two Pakistanis have been arrested in connection with the explosion which injured Nato troops and another blast on Kabul-Jalalabad road.

He said the police have recovered explosives and batteries from them.

Pakistani embassy spokesman, Mohammad Naim, said he was not aware of any Pakistanis being arrested.

In another incident, a suspected suicide bomber ploughed his car into an army convoy in Bermal district in Paktika province, injuring six soldiers and one civilian, the province's governor Mohammad Akram Khpalwak said.

UK and Canadian-led Nato troops assumed control last month

Hundreds of people have been killed in attacks in southern Afghanistan since May in what is the traditional heartland of the Taleban.

UK and Canadian-led Nato troops assumed control of military operations in southern Afghanistan at the end of last month, taking over from the US-led coalition which overthrew the Taleban in 2001.

This is the first land deployment outside Europe for the Nato forces led by the UK and Canada.

The 8,000 soldiers are under the umbrella of Nato's International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) in six provinces in the south: Day Kundi, Helmand, Kandahar, Nimroz, Uruzgan and Zabul.