The attack Thursday in Uruzgan province, northwest of Deh Rawood, where a US military base is located, occurred less than a week after Afghanistan held landmark elections which passed off largely peacefully despite threats of attacks by Taliban-led rebels who had vowed to sabotage the vote.

Earlier five Afghans including a policeman were killed after a remote-controlled bomb exploded in eastern Afghanistan late Friday near a truck supplying food to US bases, an official said.

"Two coalition soldiers were killed and three wounded when their patrol was struck by an improvised explosive device," Maj. Mark McCann, a US military spokesman in Kabul, said in a brief statement.