Afghan police killed 33 Taliban insurgents after a roadside bomb detonated by militants killed eight policemen in the southern province of Kandahar, the provincial governor said on Tuesday.

The policemen were killed on Monday and the same day police began a follow-up operation against the Taliban, Governor Assadullah Khalid said.

"As a result of the police operation 33 Taliban were killed and we had no casualties," Khalid told a news conference.

In another incident south of the capital Kabul, a Taliban suicide bomber targeted a U.S.-led coalition convoy in Logar province.

A spokesman for the coalition confirmed the attack -- which was claimed by the Taliban -- but had no further details or information on casualties.

Violence has surged in the past 17 months in Afghanistan, the bloodiest period since U.S.-led troops overthrew the Taliban government in Kabul in late 2001.

Taking a lead from the Iraq insurgency, the Taliban have increasingly resorted to suicide and roadside bomb attacks against foreign troops or Afghan government targets.