HERAT (Afghanistan) - A SUICIDE bomber killed 10 civilians, a senior Afghan police officer and his bodyguard in southwest Afghanistan on Friday, a provincial governor said.

At least 20 civilians were also wounded in the attack and the toll could rise further as casualties were still being pulled from the rubble of four shops destroyed in the blast in a market in Zaranj, the capital of Nimroz province, its governor Ghulam Dastegir-Azad told Reuters.

A Taleban spokesman said they had carried out the attack, which he said killed eight policemen, including two police commanders. The Taleban often exaggerate the number of security forces they have killed.

The attack comes a day after two US soldiers and a senior Afghan policeman were killed by a Taleban suicide bomber in the southern province of Kandahar.

Late on Thursday, a car packed with explosives was detonated beside a busy market in the Maiwand district of Kandahar, killing two US soldiers, Nato said.

Some 21 civilians were also wounded by the blast and a district police chief told Reuters three civilians were also killed, while Nato said one civilian had been killed.

More than 18,000 mainly Canadian, British, Dutch and US troops are based in southern Afghanistan, locked in a fierce battle against a resurgent Taleban.

The United States is planning to send more than 20,000 troops to Afghanistan in the next six months, most of them to the south, the birthplace of the Taleban.

Elsewhere, US military forces killed two militants and detained three more suspects during an operation to target a bomb-making cell in the southeastern Zabul province, which neighbours Kandahar. -- REUTERS