Three US soldiers killed in Afghanistan

Three US soldiers are killed in an ambush in Afghanistan's Kapisa province north of Kabul, taking number of the coalition forces killed in 2009 to 126.

"Three coalition service members were killed in an attack on their convoy in Kapisa province this morning when their convoy struck an improvised explosive device and came under small-arms fire," the US military said on Thursday.

The force's media office told AFP that the three were from the United States.

No militant group has as yet claimed responsibility for the attack in area where extremist Hezb-e-Islami faction led by former prime minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar are active.

A separate bombing in the southern province of Kandahar on Wednesday evening killed five Afghan security forces, Press TV correspondent reported.

The explosion hit a police patrol in the city of Spin Buldak, near the Durand Line border with Pakistan, when a Taliban militant rammed his explosive-laden motorcycle into the vehicle.

Taliban-linked insurgency has risen in Afghanistan, particularly in the violent south where hundreds of NATO soldiers are stationed.

Recent attacks have raised stability concerns as the nation heads for key presidential and provincial elections scheduled for August 20, the second since the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.

President Hamid Karzai came out as the winner in the previous lection in 2004 and is to step down when his five-year term ends in October 2009.