KABUL, Dec 25: In the hours after President Hamid Karzai announced his cabinet at least five people were killed in a burst of Taliban-led violence across Afghanistan, officials said on Saturday.

One suspected Taliban was killed and four others injured late Thursday as a bomb he was planting by the roadside exploded in southeast Khost province just hours after Karzai unveiled a new reformist cabinet.

"A bomber died in Arin village after the bomb he was planting on the main road (leading) to the security command exploded," provincial police chief Mohammad Ayob told AFP.

The police chief blamed members of ousted Taliban militia for the blast.

At least one driver was killed on Friday when Taliban militants attacked a 20-vehicle defence ministry convoy travelling through Farah province from the main western city of Herat to the former Taliban stronghold of Kandahar.

"Another driver is still missing and the 17 other vehicles reached Kandahar safely," Farah deputy police chief Mohammad Rasool told AFP. The army trucks had recently been donated by India.

Two Taliban and one Afghan soldier were also killed Friday evening in an attack on Atghar district government headquarters in the southern province of Zabul.

"Two Taliban and one government soldier were killed and attackers left behind the body of one Taliban, one vehicle, one Kalashnikov and one wireless radio," Zabul governor Khyal Mohammed Hussaini told AFP.

The burst of attacks which stretched from the traditional Taliban heartland in the south and southeast to the west of the country highlight the security challenge for Karzai.

Karzai won plaudits from the west for sidelining former Northern Alliance warlords when he formed his new government but still faces an ongoing insurgency in south and southeast.-AFP