9 Afghan soldiers killed in Taliban territory

A suicide car bomber struck near a coalition military base in Kabul yesterday, killing at least two civilians and wounding two others, police and witnesses said.

The car bomb exploded on a main road about 100 metres (yards) from a coalition military base used to train Afghan security forces.

"Today at 11:20 am (0550 GMT) a Corolla taxi driven by a suicide bomber exploded ... near Camp Phoenix," interior ministry spokesman Yousuf Stanizai said.

"As a result the bomber himself, a driver of a truck nearby and a civilian passer-by were killed."

The army has already reported that four other soldiers were killed, 24 wounded and several missing after the Taliban ambush in volatile Helmand province early Saturday.

Nine of those missing were later found to have been killed in fierce fighting in the restive province's Sangin district, said a military commander from the region.

"Nine soldiers were trapped in the area. They resisted until about four o'clock in the afternoon but finally they were killed by the Taliban," the commander said on condition of anonymity.

Afghan and coalition forces killed 20 "enemy fighters" in a battle in southern Afghanistan last week in which a US soldier also died and seven others were wounded, the US-led coalition said Sunday.

The coalition announced the death of the soldier on Saturday but did not say how many militants were killed in the battle in Uruzgan province on Friday.

The fighting erupted when about 50 fighters attempted to ambush a joint patrol. "Afghan and coalition forces repelled the attack with small arms, killing 20 extremists," a coalition statement said.

About 20 Taliban fighters were killed or wounded in the fighting, defence ministry spokesman General Mohammad Zahir Azimi told AFP Sunday, refusing to immediately comment on the Afghan army casualties.