A suicide bomber targetted a diplomatic convoy in the outskirts of the Afghan capital Kabul today, wounding at least one Afghan civilian, police and witnesses said.
Also today, six Afghan police in the southern province of Zabul and a Filipino road engineer and Afghan guard were killed in two separate ambushes in the southeastern province of Paktia, provincial police officials said.
After the blast in Kabul, shots were fired at a damaged armoured vehicle in the convoy, wounding one Turkish guard, a Turkish embassy official said.
Nato troops blocked off the site of the blast, on a main road leading out to the west of Kabul, soon after the attack.
Afghanistan's ousted Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, part of rising violence in the past 18 months, the bloodiest period since US-led troops overthrew the militants' government in 2001.
Kabul has been the scene of a series of roadside blasts and suicide raids in recent months against Afghan and foreign troops. But today's shooting after the attack on the convoy was the first of its kind in the capital.
It also came hours after three rockets exploded in a field inside the city, police said. There were no casualties or damage from the rockets.
Inspired by insurgents in Iraq, the Taliban and their allies largely rely on roadside bombs and suicide attacks as part of their campaign to overthrow the government and drive out foreign troops from the country.