NATO troops have taken command of military operations in southern Afghanistan, with its first priority to suppress the recent resurgence of Taliban attacks.

The latest attack came Monday when a bomb blast intended for a provincial governor killed eight people at a mosque service. The deadly explosion came after some 30 Taliban fighters were killed in clashes Sunday, mainly in the southern provinces where NATO has taken command.

NATO assumed control Monday from the U.S.-led anti-terror coalition, which was first deployed almost five years ago to rid Afghanistan of the Taliban regime and capture al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

"Today's transfer of authority demonstrates to the Afghan people that there is a strong commitment on the part of the international community to further extend security into the southern region's provinces," Lt. Gen. Karl Eikenberry, commander of U.S.-led coalition forces, said in a NATO statement.

The mission for the NATO-led force, made up of 2,200 Canadian soldiers, as well as British and Dutch soldiers, is considered the most dangerous in the Western alliance security organization's 57-year history.

The takeover comes during the deadliest upsurge in fighting in Afghanistan since late 2001, and after three days of intense fighting that left more than 50 Taliban fighters dead.

Officials said the eight people killed in Monday's bomb attack in Farmay Adha, about 20 kilometres south of the Nangarhar provincial capital of Jalalabad, included five police officers and three children. Sixteen others were wounded.

Thousands of mourners had gathered at a mosque to mark the death of Younis Khalis, an Islamic extremist and former commander during the resistance against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s. He died two weeks ago at the age of 87 after a long illness.

The attack was aimed at Nangarhar provincial Gov. Gul Agha Sherzai, who left the mosque only minutes before the explosion, said the province's police chief.

The NATO alliance's 8,000-strong deployment in the south that includes some U.S. soldiers will be under the command of British Lt. Gen. David Richards, who officials say becomes the first non-U.S. general to lead American forces in combat missions.

"In one sense it is historical," Richards told reporters on Sunday. "But also it is important for the world that Afghanistan is not allowed to be tipped back to its pre-9/11 state and allow a Taliban look-alike government with its sympathies to come back into power."

While NATO conducted aerial combat operations during the wars in Bosnia and Kosovo in the 1990s, it has yet to conduct major ground combat missions.

NATO currently has troops in the more stable regions of Kabul and the north and west of Afghanistan. The U.S.-led coalition will continue its work in the unstable east.

NATO will try two new strategies in dealing with the Taliban rebellion: establishing bases rather than chasing militants and winning the support of locals by creating secure zones where the nation can rebuild.

With files from The Associated Press