General Zahir Azimi, a defence ministry spokesman, said three bodies and 21 wounded people were evacuated from the area, which was cordoned off by Afghan and British troops, to a military hospital in the city.

A source from the NATO-led international forces told DPA that a British military vehicle was in the area of the attack.

Also on Tuesday, a suicide bomber in Chora district in Uruzgan province attacked a checkpoint manned by Afghan army personnel, killing three soldiers and two civilians, provincial police chief Juma Gul Hemat said.

He said three more soldiers and three civilians were wounded in the blast, which took place some 30 km northeast of the provincial capital.