'Taleban killed' in Afghan raid

There have been a few suicide attacks in Kabul in recent months

Nato and Afghan forces have killed 18 Taleban militants in a raid in southern Afghanistan, officials say.

It took place late on Tuesday in the town of Garmser in Helmand province. A Danish soldier was badly wounded in Helmand on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, three British soldiers were killed in Helmand.

Separately, a car has exploded in the capital Kabul, killing its driver and injuring two other people - one of them a passenger - police say.

'No casualties'

'We carried out the operation in which 18 Taleban got killed and we recovered a huge amount of ammunitions," provincial police chief, Nabi Mullahkhail, told Reuters.

He said there were no casualties among the Nato or Afghan forces in the fighting in Garmser town, which was recaptured from the Taleban last month.

Also in Helmand, Danish troops came under attack in the district of Musa Qala. One soldier was seriously hurt and transferred to hospital in the city of Kandahar.

The Kabul incident happened when police tried to stop the car in the Binay Hisar area of the capital.

Someone preparing to deliver a suicide bomb was intercepted by police and prematurely exploded his bomb Maj Luke Knittig Nato spokesman

Police said it was still unclear whether it was a suicide attack or the car was transporting explosives.

Bomb blasts in Kabul are rare, although there have been a few suicide bomb attacks on the outskirts the city.

Gen Alishah Paktiwal, head of Kabul's criminal investigation department told the BBC that the Toyota Corolla car driving into the city refused to stop when the police flagged it down.

"It kept speeding on and then it exploded," he said.

The blast badly injured a civilian bystander as well as killing the driver and injuring a passenger, he added.

Nato spokesman Maj Luke Knittig told the Associated Press that it seemed a suicide attacker had detonated his car rigged with bombs after the police tried to stop him.

"Someone preparing to deliver a suicide bomb was intercepted by police and prematurely exploded his bomb," he said.

Growing violence

The BBC's Bilal Sarwary in Kabul says Taleban and al-Qaeda militants have been trying to carry out attacks in the city, because the capital is home to thousands of foreign forces and professional expatriates.

Violence by the Taleban and their allies has escalated in Afghanistan this year, which has seen the worst violence since they were forced from power in 2001.

Most of the bloodshed has been in the south and east.