A suicide bomber targeting an American military delegation outside a government office in eastern Afghanistan has killed 13 people, including 10 schoolchildren and two international service members.

At least 10 people were killed and more than 20 others injured in a suicide bomb attack outside a government office in western Afghanistan during rush-hour today, authorities said.

A Taliban suicide bomber rammed a van into an armoured Nato bus today in Kabul, killing 13 American troops and four Afghans, US and Afghan officials said, in the deadliest attack on coalition forces in more than two months.

Five British soldiers were killed when a rogue Afghan policeman turned his gun on them inside a checkpoint.

A suicide bomb tore through a mosque in Kandahar, southern Afghanistan today during the funeral of a Muslim cleric who spoke out against the Taliban.