Coalition forces have repelled an attack by the Taliban in eastern Afghanistan which involved a truck bombing and an attempt to storm a Nato base, police officials said.
As many as 14 militants were killed in the incident near Khost, while no foreign or Afghan troops died, according to Nato.
The attack showed the fundamentalist Islamic movement remains a resilient force even as Afghan president Hamid Karzai insists the insurgents do not have the means to retake the nation after foreign forces leave.
Police said Friday's blast occurred at a coalition base about three miles outside Khost. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack.
Gula Jan, an Afghan police official who was at the scene, said the attack occurred at Camp Salerno.
He said six civilians - three women and three children - were slightly wounded when a wall collapsed from the force of the explosion, although Nato said it had no reports of any civilians being hurt during the attack.
"The blast was inside the compound and then we heard firing," Mr Jan said. "There is a helicopter flying over the base."
Later, four policemen were killed after a pair of bombings in southern Afghanistan.
Police official Gulab Khan said both incidents involved bombs hidden in motorcycles that exploded as police vehicles were passing by in Tarin Kot, the capital of Oruzgan province.
In the past two years, the US-led coalition has sent tens of thousands of troops into Taliban strongholds in the south and has largely succeeded in boosting security there.
The Taliban have responded by opening up new fronts in the north and west and stepping up attacks in the east, where much of the heaviest fighting is presently concentrated.
Nato plans to pull combat troops out of Afghanistan by the end of 2014 and turn security over to local forces. If security allows, Mr Karzai said foreign forces could pull out earlier.
"We will not ask them to leave early," Mr Karzai told Time magazine. "If everything is done in time and they want to leave early, we will welcome it."
His office released a transcript of the wide-ranging May 13 interview on Friday.