Security officials said the suspects were believed to be involved in an attempt on Karzai's life [AFP]

A woman and a child who were with the fighters also died in the 10-hour battle which broke out on Wednesday after Afghan forces surrounded a house in the area of Gozargah, 15km from the capital.
 
Afghan security officials said that the suspects were believed to be involved in an assassination attempt last Sunday on Hamid Karzai, Afghanistan's president.

Saeed Ansari, a spokesman for the intelligence service, said the troops had wanted to capture the suspects alive.
 
Three people were reportedly arrested by Afghan security forces.
 
Taliban denial

A Taliban spokesman, said that two men and two women were killed during the firefight with government forces.
 
He said that the four had provided logistics and facilities for potential suicide bombers, but denied they had a role in the attack on Karzai last week.
 
Karzai escaped the attempt on his life at a military parade, but a member of parliament, the head of a minority group and a 10-year-old boy were killed, as well as three Taliban fighters.

"Their faces and the intelligence from the neighbours show that two of them were not Afghans," Amrullah Saleh, head of the National Directorate of Security, said of those who died in the raid.

"They were foreigners, probably only of them is an Afghan."

He said there was evidence that the fighters had received orders for the attack on Karzai from sources in Pakistan's tribal belt, which borders Afghanistan.

"There were telephone numbers, exchange of messages and proof that they were receiving orders from across our borders. Whether they were receiving these guidance ordered by government of Pakistan or not, we have no proof," Saleh said.

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