At least one Afghan police officer turned his gun on Nato troops at a remote checkpoint in southern Afghanistan before dawn today, killing four American service members before escaping, according to Afghan and international officials.

Afghan and Nato forces clashed with Taliban militants in a dangerous southern region overnight, leaving 33 Afghanis dead, the provincial governor said today.

Suspected Taliban rebels killed an Afghan woman they accused of spying for US forces, while Afghan soldiers arrested a militant and seized weapons from him in restive southern Afghanistan, officials said today.

AMERICAN warplanes pounded a suspected Taliban safe haven in the mountainsides of southern Afghanistan in an assault that left up to 60 insurgents, five policemen and seven Afghan soldiers dead and five US soldiers wounded, officials said.

SUSPECTED Taliban fighters attacked a government checkpoint and ambushed another group of Afghan soldiers along the main road linking the south with the capital, killing at least eight soldiers, Afghan officials said yesterday.