Coalition forces kill 4 'al-Qaeda fighters'

Three other alleged members of Osama bin Laden's terror network were arrested in a raid in the eastern province of Khost about 15km from the Pakistan border, the coalition said.

It said it was not sure if the man the raid was targeting, whose name and nationality were not revealed, was among those killed or captured.

"Coalition forces killed four suspected al-Qaeda terrorists, detained three suspected al-Qaeda terrorists...," a coalition statement said without giving details.

"The purpose of this operation was to capture or kill an al-Qaeda operational leader, who is a significant threat to Afghan and coalition forces in Khost province," it said.

Provincial governor Sarajuding Patan said the four were an Afghan mullah and three Arabs. The three arrested men were brothers of the mullah, he told AFP.

al-Qaeda militants are believed to be fighting alongside the Taliban movement in Afghanistan in a growing insurgency against the government of President Hamid Karzai.

In the south a suicide bomber blew up a crowded provincial justice headquarters in Helmand province, killing the department head and two other employees, an official said.

Nine other people were hurt when the attacker blew himself up in the office in the provincial capital Lashkar Gah and caused the building to collapse, provincial government spokesman Haji Mohaidin Khan said.