LASHKAR GAH, Afghanistan, Nov 11 (Reuters) - A suicide bomber killed five civilians in southern Afghanistan on Sunday, the Afghan Defence Ministry said.

The Taliban have killed at least 200 people in more than 130 suicide attacks this year, undermining public confidence in ability of the government and the 50,000 foreign troops in the country to provide security more than six years after U.S-led and Afghan forces ousted the hardline Islamist movement from power.

"A suicide bomber killed five civilians in the Girishk district of Helmand province," a Defence Ministry statement said.

But police and other Afghan officials said only the bomber was killed in the attack.

The Interior Ministry said foreign troops were the target, but only two civilians were wounded.

There were no indications that any foreign forces had been hurt in the attack, but there was a patrol from the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in the area at the time, a British military spokesman in Helmand said.

The bomber was waiting at the side of the road for a convoy of foreign troops to pass, a Girishk police official said.

Recognising the threat, the troops shot the bomber and as they did so he detonated his explosives, but wounded only three civilians, said the official, who declined to named.

Despite heavy battlefield defeats, the Taliban's campaign to oust the pro-Western Afghan government and eject foreign forces shows no signs of flagging and the insurgents have extended the area of their operations, launching attacks the length and breadth of the country.

NATO leaders admit they are in a race against time to train Afghan forces, provide security and bring development and reconstruction so as to undercut support for the Taliban before Afghan resentment grows against foreign forces and casualties lead to Western government's withdrawing their troops. (Reporting by Abdul Qudoos in Lashkar Gah and Hamid Shalizi in Kabul; Writing by Jon Hemming; Editing by Alex Richardson)

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