KABUL, July 8: Six Nato soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb in eastern Afghanistan on Sunday, after a militant attack in the south killed one foreign soldier, coalition statements said.

The deaths took the number of Nato troops killed in the last two days to eight, one of the deadliest periods of violence for foreign troops in weeks.

A string of roadside bombs and clashes in the south killed at least 24 Afghan civilians and police earlier on Sunday.

Two policemen were killed by a bomb in southern Helmand province which borders Kandahar province, where clashes with militants killed another four officers, its media office said.

Roadside bombs killed 18 civilians travelling in three vehicles in Kandahar province, close to the Pakistan border, police said.

“The first blast hit a minivan with around 20 people on board,” provincial police chief General Abdul Raziq said.

“A tractor came to pick up the bodies and injured people but a second explosion hit it and altogether 14 people, including five women, were killed and nine wounded,” he said.

A third civilian vehicle was hit by another roadside bomb in the same district hours later, killing four, including two women, he said.

He blamed the attacks on Taliban militants.—Agencies

Saleem Shahid adds: At least 12 of those killed in the bombings in Kandahar province were Afghan refugees who had crossed into Afghanistan through the border post at Chaman, said a border official.

The minivan they were traveling in was hit by a bomb in the Spin Boldak district of Kandahar province, he said.