Kabul: A suicide car bomb struck a police vehicle in southern Afghanistan, killing a district police chief and four other people, and a NATO soldier died in a separate attack, NATO and Afghan officials said Thursday.

"The insurgents pulled alongside the Daman district police chief`s vehicle while travelling toward Kandahar city and detonated the explosives-laden vehicle," NATO said of Wednesday`s blast, which killed the police chief, three policemen and a civilian.

"This barbaric attack demonstrates the insurgents` desire to undermine the peace and stability of Afghanistan," said US Air Force Colonel James Dawkins, a spokesperson of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). "The insurgents continue to offer nothing but pain and suffering to the Afghan people."

A soldier of the NATO-led forces was killed Wednesday in an attack in southern Afghanistan, ISAF said without providing more details.

According to the icasualties.org website, which tracks Western military deaths, 436 foreign troops have been killed so far this year.

BDST: 1512 HRS, August 19, 2010