A Royal Marine was killed today and another seriously wounded when a suicide bomber threw himself at a British patrol in southern Afghanistan. Two Afghan children were also killed in the attack.

The attack came shortly before the Secretary-General of Nato issued a fresh appeal for more troops and investment to help calm the situation in Afghanistan where a spiral of violence, including near-daily suicide attacks, has killed around 3,000 people.

Today's bombing took place in Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand province and the headquarters of the British mission to southern Afghanistan. Witnesses said a man threw himself amongst a convoy of British vehicles, setting at least of one them on fire.

The Royal Marine died of his injuries despite being airlifted to hospital. The Ministry of Defence said that the other soldier injured in the blast is currently in a military hospital in a serious condition.

Brigadier Jerry Thomas, the Commander of the Helmand Task Force, said his thoughts were with the friends, families and colleagues of those killed and injured in the bombing.

"My troops are performing their jobs here with admirable courage and professionalism and will continue to do so after today’s attack," he said.

"This has not deterred us from our mission, which is to support the legitimate Government of Afghanistan in providing security and reconstruction for ordinary Afghans."

A spokesman for the Afghan Interior Ministry in Kabul said that seven civilians had been hurt in the blast and that two young children had been killed.

Hours later, another suicide bomber ran in front of a police car on an open stretch of road outside the eastern city of Khost and blew himself up. One policeman was killed and four injured, according to General Mohammad Ayub, the provincial police chief.

Speaking to the BBC this morning as news of the Helmand attack reached London, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, Nato's political chief, said: "It does bring home that the Taleban and the other spoilers of the process of nation-building and democracy in Afghanistan are having to go with these kinds of horrible tactics -- improvised explosive devices, suicide bombers and so on -- because they know they can’t beat Nato in other ways."

"I can assure you they will not beat Nato, neither the UK nor other forces, by employing these tactics," he said.

Later, Mr de Hoop Scheffer told an audience of defence and security experts that more soldiers would help Nato secure the turbulent south of Afghanistan, which is reaching the end of a violent summer of confrontations between the Taleban and British, Canadian and US forces.

"If you ask me, 'Secretary-General, are you completely satisfied?’ The answer is no," he said. "I am not completely satisfied."

"I think we have a sufficient number of forces to do the job, but with more forces we can always do better."

Nato currently leads an international force of around 30,000 soldiers in Afghanistan, including a contingent of 12,000 US troops and 5,000 British soldiers. Earlier this month, the alliance took over the security of the whole of Afghanistan and began the largest ground operation in its history.

Mr de Hoop Scheffer was speaking at the end of a week in which Lieutenant-General David Richards, the commander of the Nato mission, said Afghanistan was entering a critical winter, in which the Afghan population could decide to swing behind the Taleban unless more progress was made rebuilding the country.

The Nato Secretary-General said that he agreed with General Richards and that now was the time for the UN, the World Bank and the G8 group of industrialised nations to "step up their game" and make good on pledges to build crucial infrastructure projects.

"There is no military solution for Afghanistan... security alone is not enough," he said. "[Afghans] also want a job. They want to see reconstruction and development across the country. They want to see that their children will have a better future."

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