A militant has detonated his explosives in eastern Afghanistan, killing four police officers and five civilians.

Local police appeared to be the target of Monday's attack in eastern Kapisa province, where the majority of France's 3,500 troops in Afghanistan are stationed.

The explosion in Tagab, a troubled district of Kapisa, killed the local police commander, his son, and two of his guards, provincial governor Mehrabuddin Safi told the AFP news agency.

Seventeen civilians were injured in the blast in the town's main bazaar, the governor said.

Homayoun Rashidi, a local police spokesman, said the bombing targeted a group commander in the force known as the Afghan Local Police, which forms part of the Afghan government's security forces but does not come under the national police set-up.

Monday's blast is the second in as many weeks in Kapisa province.

Four French troops and two of their Afghan interpreters were killed in a bomb attack last weekend, which was claimed by the Taliban.

That attack led French President Francois Hollande to call for the withdrawal of French troops from the Central Asian nation starting from July.

Meanwhile, a Nato soldier in eastern Afghanistan has been shot dead by three men in Afghan police uniform, officials say.

The men fled the area after Sunday's attack, Nato's International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) says.

It says the incident is now under investigation.

Isaf provided no further details about Sunday's attack and did not specify the nationality of the dead soldier.

However, a police source said the attack took place in Kandahar province, according to the AFP news agency.

Revelations in February that US troops burned copies of the Koran at a base in Afghanistan  as well as the shooting of 16 Afghans by a US soldier in March and urinating on Afghan dead bodies have inflamed public opinion against the foreign invaders.

Source: Agencies