Three British soldiers died and two were injured in the southwestern part of Afghanistan after a bomb reportedly dropped by a US fighter plane exploded near them, military officials informed Friday.

The soldiers were engaged in a gunbattle with Taliban insurgents in the Helmand province late Thursday, the British Defense Ministry said. Air support was called in during the fire exchange and one of the bombs dropped by US planes is believed to have killed the three soldiers and wounded two others.

Since the conflict erupted six years ago in Afghanistan, 76 British soldiers were killed in the war-torn country.

In other incidents, two foreign soldiers were killed and two suffered injuries after their vehicle overturned in the western province of Herat on Friday, military sources informed.

A similar incident led to the death of another International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) trooper in the eastern Kabul province. Initially, the two soldiers travelling through the Shakardara district on Thursday were injured, but one of them died later at a medical facility.

Also on Thursday, ten Afghan security guards were killed after several Taliban gunmen ambushed a convoy in the southern Zabul province, security sources informed.

According to a spokesman of the security company in charge of the transport, said Taliban fighters attacked the convoy on a main road linking Kabul and Kandahar. At least one insurgent was killed during the fierce fire exchange that lasted several hours.