A member of an al-Qaida-linked group who helped finance attacks against Afghan and foreign forces has been captured in northern Afghanistan, NATO said Saturday.

Separately in the east, three employees of an Afghan construction company died Saturday when their vehicle struck a roadside bomb, police said.

Afghan and U.S.-led coalition forces apprehended the unnamed militant with the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan during a gun battle Friday in Almar district of Faryab province.

Faryab is a stronghold of the IMU, which is active in the north, but the province is otherwise relatively calm.

The construction company employees were traveling on a main highway between Khost and Paktia provinces when their four-wheel drive vehicle hit the bomb, said Youqib Khan, deputy police chief in Khost. He said a fourth employee of the company was injured in the blast in Dowamandia district.