Suicide attack kills six in Afghanistan: officials

The suicide bomber detonated an explosives-laden vehicle at the Sky construction company in the Jadran district of Paktia province, local governor Abdul Wali Jadran told AFP. "Six security guards of the company were killed and another three were wounded in the blast," Jadran said.

Separately, NATO and Afghan soldiers killed a Taliban commander and 11 of his men in an overnight operation in western Herat province, said Jalandar Shah Behnam, the Afghan army corp commander for western Afghanistan.

The operation was launched after a tip-off about the whereabouts of of Ghulam Yahya Akbari, who acoording to him was  a local Taliban commander.

"The joint forces killed Akbari and his men in a firefight. We were supported by NATO helicopters but no air strike was needed," he said.

Akbari was a former anti-Soviet fighter who served as Herat major before the Taliban took over the country, after which he joined the anti-Taliban resistance from 1996 until they were overthrown in a US-led invasion in 2001.

He was director of public works for the province in the years immediately following the Taliban's overthrow, but turned against the government three years ago.