Regional police spokesman Abdul Rauf Ahmadi said the attacker blew up his explosives-laden car near vehicles transporting US soldiers here to train the fledgling Afghan police force.

Ahmadi said the attack had occurred "about 1.5 kilometres (less than a mile) away from the police academy on the airport road".

The US military said it did not immediately have information about the attack, which was similar to scores carried out across Afghanistan by extremist militants allied to the Taliban, who ruled here from 1996-2001.

But NATO's International Security Assistance Force, which has an Italian-led base in the area, confirmed there had been an explosion caused by an improvised explosive device (IED), or bomb.

"We have reports of an IED strike in Herat with military casualties on the scene," an ISAF spokesman said, adding no one had been killed. He did not have any other details.

Witnesses said two civilian women were slightly wounded by shattered glass.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.

The Taliban were ousted in a US-led invasion for sheltering Al-Qaeda after the September 11 2001 attacks on Washington and New York.

Their insurgency, which makes heavy use of suicide and other bombings, has been at its fiercest this year despite the efforts of nearly 70,000 foreign troops under US and NATO command, and their Afghan counterparts.

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