At least 19 people have died in three separate Taliban attacks in Afghanistan.

It's understood that a suicide bomber targeted a bus in the capital Kabul carrying local army soldiers - killing at least seven of them.

Separately, two American soldiers died in a roadside bomb attack on Friday night.

Meanwhile in the south of the country, 10 mine clearers were shot dead in Helmand province.

The attacks come amid a spike in violence just weeks before the international military mission in Afghanistan comes to an end on the 31st of December.