Nato and Afghan forces killed 18 Taliban fighters in a raid on a village in southern Afghanistan, where violence has escalated after Nato troops took over from US forces.
In another province in the Taliban's southern heartland, 15 police surrendered as the rebels were about to attack their post, the Taliban said.
The Nato-Afghan raid on the rebels yesterday came after villagers told government forces guerrillas had gathered in the village of Garmser in Helmand province, the provincial police chief said. He said there were no casualties among the Nato and Afghan troops.
The clash came hours after three British soldiers were killed in an ambush on their patrol in Helmand, a day after Nato took over from the US to allow Washington to pull about 3,000 soldiers out of the country.
In the capital, Kabul, a blast in a car killed a man and wounded two today, police said. The cause of explosion was unclear.
Nato assumed security responsibility from US-led troops for the volatile south on Monday, the biggest ground mission of the alliance in its history.
Afghanistan is going through the bloodiest phase of violence since US- led forces overthrew the Taliban in 2001, much of it in the south, including Helmand, the main drug producing region in the country that is the world's major source of heroin.
More than 1,700 people have been killed in attacks by the militants, drug barons and in operations by foreign troops this year, mostly in the south. The victims include militants, civilians, scores of Afghan police and troops and more than 70 foreign soldiers.