HERAT, Afghanistan: Five Afghan soldiers were killed in a Taliban-style bomb attack in the western province of Herat on Wednesday, a district official said.

The troops were killed when their vehicle struck an improvised explosive device (IED) - the type of home-made bombs widely used in attacks by Taliban and other insurgents.

The attack took place in the Pashtun Zarghun district.

“One officer and four soldiers were killed in the blast. It was a roadside bomb attack,” the district's governor, Ghulam Nabi Azizi, told AFP.

He could not say who was responsible but similar attacks have been blamed on Taliban.

The Afghan military does not release the overall toll of fatalities among its troops, who are set to assume responsibility for security across the country by the end of 2014 when all foreign soldiers are due to depart.

A US-led training mission is working to train Afghan forces, which have grown rapidly from around 190,000 personnel in late 2009 to 306,000 this year.