Three self-confessed, 20-something Pakistani jihadists arrested in Afghanistan have an odd story to tell -- assuming it's true.

"They'd followed the call from a religious leader in Pakistan to come in and wage jihad," CTV's Paul Workman told Newsnet on Saturday from Kandahar.

"They were told that the 'infidels' -- the NATO forces -- were running this country now, and they came in to help drive them out."

After their arrest, "they suddenly realize that Afghanistan is not ruled by infidels, that this very much still a Muslim country, and they were proclaiming their naivete," Workman said.

An Afghan security official told a news conference that three suspected Taliban 'trainers' from Pakistan had been arrested as they travelled to Kandahar province.

Security agents picked up the three men on the highway between Uruzgan province and Kandahar to the south, Abdul Qayoom, of the National Directorate for Security, said Saturday in Kandahar City.

Authorities said they believe the men are trainers for the Taliban, who have been trying to recruit more members to become suicide bombers.

"The intelligence services say they knew they were coming and that they are not just naive foot soldiers, that they very much are involving in training people to make and set roadside bombs," Workman said.

The arrests actually happened a week ago but only made public now. However, the Afghan security forces want to show that they are doing their jobs, he said.

Qayoom told the news conference that all three have confessed and that they are from Peshawar, Pakistan.

Peshawar is very close to the Afghan border.

Many of the suicide bombers who have attacked Canadian and other NATO member convoys have been recruited from refugee camps on the Afghan-Pakistan border.

More than 100 suicide blasts have been carried out so far this year, a record pace.

Bombing deaths

A Saturday suicide bombing attack outside a U.S. base in eastern Afghanistan's Paktika province left four Afghan soldiers and one Afghan civilian dead.

Six other Afghans were left wounded in the blast.

The bombing occurred at Forward Operating Base Bermel, the International Security Assistance Force said Saturday.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, nor was it clear if the bomber was trying to enter the base itself.

In other news:

• The Taliban killed three Afghan police who stopped the militants from carrying out a kidnapping in Helmand province.
• U.S.-led coalition troops, combined with Afghan soldiers, killed a number of Taliban fighters near Musum Qala in Helmand province.
• Australia's Prime Minister John Howard praised the contributions of Canadian and Dutch troops in Afghanistan and urged other NATO to help ease the combat burden in the volatile south.

With files from The Associated Press