Suicide bomber hits Afghan govt compound, 3 dead

LASHKAR GAR, Afghanistan, July 17 (Reuters) A suicide bomber destroyed an Afghan government office in the southern province of Helmand today killing at least three officials, witnesses said.

In a separate incident, US-led forces said they had killed four suspected al Qaeda fighters during a raid in Khost province, once a stronghold of Osama bin Laden.

The suicide bomber struck inside the compound of a government building complex and opposite the police headquarters in Lashker Gah, the capital of Helmand province which has been the focus of heavy fighting between US-led forces and militants.

''The three people killed apart from the suicide bomber are government officials including the head of justice department of Helmand,'' said Mahaiuddin, a spokesman for the provincial governor.

It was the second such attack in as many days targeting government offices. Five people were killed in a suicide strike on Sunday in the southeast town of Gardez.

Foreign troops are engaged in a big offensive against militants in the south, where a NATO peacekeeping force will take over from the US-led coalition at the end of the month.

Coalition forces said that in addition to the deaths of the four suspected al Qaeda members, another three people were captured during the raid in Khost province, east of Kabul.

Residents in the town told Reuters one of those killed was a cleric.

In a separate incident in Khost province, unidentified gunmen kidnapped 40 men from a village near the border with Pakistan overnight after a brief clash in which two women were wounded, Khost's police chief Mohammad Ayoub told Reuters.

He said the gunmen infiltrated the area from Pakistan where they went back after seizing the men from Sabiri village, which is largely pro-government.

TALIBAN COMMANDER After days of heavy fighting since the fall of the Taliban in 2001, coalition forces said they had destroyed a ''safe house'' of a Taliban commander in Sangin district in Helmand province.

The US military said the raid was conducted on Sunday night, but they did not name the commander who was targeted.

A British military spokesman said fighting in Nawzad town, also in Helmand province and the scene of daily firefights had eased after forces captured a hospital occupied by militants.

Also today, three Afghan soldiers were killed when a roadside bomb hit their convoy in Girishk district of Helmand.

Taliban fighters had also taken control in a thinly populated southern district of Helmand, a member of parliament said.

The Taliban had occupied Garmser district in Helmand overnight without any resistance, Sher Mohammad Akhundzada said.

But the country's defence minister said in an interview published today that Afghan intelligence had learned the Taliban's command and control structure was fragmenting due to heavy losses and many commanders were fleeing to Pakistan.

''I think that in the next two or three months there will be some major changes,'' General Abdul Rahim Wardak told the Financial Times.

REUTERS SHB BST1749