Taliban ambush kills 22 Afghan security force members

Taliban insurgents have killed at least 22 security force members in an ambush in northern Afghanistan.

The violence comes as the Taliban and their allies step up attacks ahead of the withdrawal of most foreign troops at the end of the year, seeking to weaken the new Afghan government.

The Taliban, who ruled Afghanistan with an iron fist from 1996 to 2001, attacked from the mountains as the convoy was travelling through Laghman Valley in Sar-e-Pul province, Governor Abdul Jabar Haqbeen said.

Eight security forces were wounded and seven were taken captive. "Twelve army and police vehicles were totally destroyed," Haqbeen said.

Meanwhile, a suicide car bomber rammed a Nato military convoy along a major road out of Afghanistan's capital, Kabul, killing one Afghan civilian.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack on the Jalalabad Road, a main thoroughfare with a US military base and a housing compound for UN and other international contractors and aid workers.