THE Australian military has released images of its efforts to assist the victims of a roadside bombing in Afghanistan which killed five civilians and injured four.

A Defence Force statement said the bombing, in the southern Oruzgan province, killed five Afghans, including a child, and injured four others. The bomb was apparently triggered as several locals tried to change a car tyre near Sorkh Morgab, about 20 kilometres north of Tarin Kowt, where the Australians are based.

A medic, Corporal Chard Mortimer, said: "If we hadn't been there, at least two of those guys would have died."

The incident comes amid escalating violence in the lead-up to winter, when the freezing temperatures make ground attacks difficult.

The release of the images follows an incident last week in which a district governor and two Afghan security officials were killed in an apparent raid by Australian special forces.

A defence spokeswoman said yesterday that an investigation into that incident was ongoing.

The Defence Minister, Joel Fitzgibbon, said he had received oral briefings from defence.

A commanding officer of the Australian Reconstruction Task Force said the latest roadside bombing was further evidence of the dangers facing the Australians.

"A few weeks ago the insurgents were firing rockets at us and hitting people's gardens and the local mosque," Lieutenant Colonel Stuart Yeaman said. "Now this awful attack - no doubt aimed at us - has killed five completely innocent people, literally blown some of them to pieces, and left four more with serious injuries."