19 Taliban killed in fighting

Two Pakistani militants were among those captured during the sweep near Lashkar Gah, the capital of troubled Helmand province, deputy provincial governor Mullah Amir Akhundzada said.

"We've launched a big operation in the area and it's ongoing right now," Akhundzada told AFP.

The operation was launched after village elders complained to the local government that Taliban fighters were intimidating them in various ways, including allegedly extorting money.

Earlier Taliban militants killed three policemen and kidnapped three others after they attacked a checkpoint in southern Afghanistan, police said Sunday.

A police company commander was shot dead with two colleagues after the rebels attacked their post in Ghazni late Saturday, a provincial police official said.

"The Taliban attacked and killed three policemen and kidnapped three others," the official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media.

Meanwhile, police detained a suspected would-be bomber in the eastern city of Khost, located in the province of the same name bordering Pakistan, provincial police chief Mohammad Ayoob said.

The man was carrying several rocket rounds, detonators and other bomb-making materials across the city, Ayoob said.

Insurgents often use home-made bombs against Afghan and foreign troops who have been here since the fall of the extremist Taliban government in late 2001.

A home-made bomb exploded near the US embassy in the Afghan capital Kabul late Saturday but caused no damage or casualties. Nato-led troops found and defused a second one nearby Sunday.

Afghanistan's small police force comes under regular attacks by insurgents.