Afghan suicide attack 'kills six'

Five civilians and one soldier from the US-led coalition in Afghanistan have been killed in a suicide attack in Helmand province, officials say.

The dead include three children, Helmand's police chief, Mohammad Hussain Andiwal, told the BBC.

The attacker detonated his explosives as a convoy of foreign troops was passing through Gereshk district.

The attack comes a day after Nato said the Taleban had been driven out of areas close to the city of Kandahar.

Helmand has seen some of the worst violence of the Taleban-led insurgency.

"The attacker walked up to a Nato convoy patrolling in a market... and detonated explosives strapped to his body," the Helmand police chief told the AFP news agency.

The Taleban are reported to have claimed responsibility for the attack.

Earlier reports said 10 civilians were killed, but the Helmand police chief later said that figure was wrong.

A spokesman for the US-led force in Afghanistan, Lt Col Paul Fanning, confirmed that one soldier had been killed, but did not reveal his nationality.

On Thursday two soldiers from the US-led force were killed in a shooting incident in Helmand.

Helmand, Afghanistan's main opium producing region, has been a hotbed for Taleban activity in recent years.

In the eastern province of Khost, police say there was a suicide attack on a Nato convoy in the district of Yaquby. There are no reports of casualties.