Kabul  - Five US soldiers were killed in a bombing, gunfire from militants and an ambush on a patrol in southern Afghanistan, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said Friday.

The troops died Thursday, and the incident with the highest toll was the bombing, which killed two of the troops and fatally injured a third.

Another was killed by gunfire during a militant attack and the fifth was killed in an attack while on patrol, the ISAF said.

It also said it had arrested six suspected militants Friday in a raid on the Haqqani network, which is allied with the Taliban and operates across the Afghan-Pakistan border.

Searches were conducted on structures in the Nadir Shah Kot district of the east-central province of Khost that were believed to be used by Haqqani militants, the ISAF said.

The NATO force charged that the militants were involved in producing anti-government media and providing logistical and financial help to militants in the region on the Pakistan border.

No shots were fired in the raid, the ISAF said. (dpa)