AFP/Kabul

A US air strike in Afghanistan killed a senior Al-Qaeda commander in charge of suicide bombing and two other militants, the Pentagon said on Friday.

The attack, which occurred in Paktika province on July 11, killed Abu Khalil al-Sudani, a "high-ranking Al-Qaeda operational commander", the Pentagon said in a statement released to reporters in Iraq who were travelling with US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter.

"Al-Sudani was one of three known violent extremists killed in the strike. The death of al-Sudani will further degrade Al-Qaeda operations across the globe," the statement said.

The Pentagon described Sudani as a senior member of the group's "shura", or council, and head of Al-Qaeda's suicide and explosive operations, and said he was directly linked to plotting attacks against the US.

"He also directed operations against Coalition, Afghan and Pakistani forces, and maintained a close association with Ayman al-Zawahiri, Al-Qaeda's leader," the statement said.

In the statement, Carter said the killing of Sudani underscored the work done by General John Campbell, the commander of Nato forces in Afghanistan, and his troops "to take the fight to Al-Qaeda".

"We will continue to counter violent extremism in the region and the world," Carter said.

Already struggling with the rise of rival jihadists from the Islamic State group, Al-Qaeda has suffered a series of setbacks in recent months with several commanders reported killed.

Its second-in-command Nasir al-Wuhayshi, head of its powerful Yemeni branch, was killed in a US drone strike in June, in the heaviest blow to the jihadist network since the death of Osama bin Laden.

Meanwhile in Syria, a US-led coalition air strike this month killed Muhsin al-Fadhli, the leader of Al-Qaeda's offshoot Khorasan Group, which is accused of plotting attacks against the US and its allies.

Next round of Afghan-Taliban talks set for end July

The next round of peace talks between the Afghan government and Taliban insurgents is scheduled for the end of July, officials said on Friday, with the venue for the meeting still unconfirmed.

"The second round of talks... is set for July 30 or 31," said Mohammad Ismail Qasimyar, a member of the Afghan High Peace Council (HPC), the government's top peace negotiating body.

He said China would "most probably" be hosting the meeting, but another HPC official said that had not been confirmed.

"The talks... are set for July 30 but discussions and consultation are ongoing between Afghanistan, Pakistan, the US and China on where to host the meeting," said HPC deputy chairman Abdul Hakim Mujahid.

"Which country will be hosting the meeting has not been confirmed yet," Mujahid told AFP.

Afghan officials sat down with Taliban cadres for the first round this month in Murree, a tourist town in the hills north of Islamabad, Pakistan - their first face-to-face talks aimed at ending the bloody insurgency.