An Afghan official says 34 Taliban were killed in an operation by Afghan and foreign forces near a key southern Afghan city.

Daud Ahmadi says the Afghan forces battled the militants south of Lashkar Gah on Sunday evening. Ahmadi is the spokesman for Helmand's governor.

Ahmadi says the authorities recovered a number of weapons, ammunition, motorbikes and other vehicles used by the Taliban. Two policemen were wounded.

Last week, Taliban fighters launched several barrages of rocket and mortar fire into Lashkar Gah, which is the capital of Helmand province.

Meanwhile, a suicide bomber in northern Afghanistan has killed two German soldiers and five children.

The governor of Kunduz province, Mohammad Omar, said two other German soldiers and two children were wounded in the blast in the province's Chahar Dara district on Monday.

NATO confirmed that some of its soldiers were killed and wounded in the attack. Omar says the soldiers were patrolling on foot when the bomber riding a bicycle hit them.