A NATO soldier died today when militants exploded a roadside bomb and then opened fire on a military patrol in southern Afghanistan today.

A suicide bomber on a bicycle attacked Canadian troops handing out sweets to children in southern Afghanistan today, killing four Nato soldiers and wounding many others, officials said. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the blast.

More than 40 suspected Taliban fighters and one Nato soldier have been killed during fierce fighting in southern Afghanistan, the alliance said today.

Warplanes today dropped bombs on suspected Taliban fighters hiding in orchards and ground troops fired artillery in a major Afghan-Nato offensive that killed more than 200 militants in southern Afghanistan.

Soaring violence in southern Afghanistan has claimed the lives of scores of militants, as well as five Afghan security forces and a British soldier.

Multiple attacks in southern Afghanistan killed six militants and left seven coalition troops and an Afghan soldier wounded, the military said today.

US-led coalition forces captured a militant fighter with only one leg in a battle this week in southern Afghanistan, and it was possible the militant could be top Taliban leader Mullah Dadullah, an Afghan general said today.

Gun battles, mine blasts and US air strikes on the day of Afghanistan’s first post-Taliban election left 38 people dead today, including three police officers escorting freshly filled ballot boxes, Afghan officials said.