NATO soldier killed in Afghanistan

Thu Jun 17, 2010, 2:12 am ET

KABUL (AFP) –

A homemade bomb killed a NATO soldier in the south of Afghanistan, the alliance announced Thursday, the third death in one day as the toll for foreign forces in the country continues to mount.

The solider, whose nationality has not been released, was killed on Wednesday by an improvised explosive device (IED), the weapon of choice for Taliban fighters hoping to drive the US and its allies from the country.

NATO, which along with the US has 142,000 troops in Afghanistan supporting Hamid Karzai's administration, had already announced the deaths of two soldiers on Wednesday, also killed by an IED.

The three fatalities take to 269 the total number of foreign soldiers killed in Afghanistan this year, according to an AFP tally, based on figures kept by the independent icasualties.org website.

Last week, NATO forces suffered their bloodiest spate of the year as 30 soldiers were killed, including four Americans when the Taliban shot down a helicopter in southern Helmand province.

The rising death toll is unwelcome news for Washington and its allies, whose electorates are increasingly frustrated by casualties in a seemingly endless and far away war.

US president Barack Obama has ordered a surge of troops into the country that will see numbers peak at 150,000 this year, before an intended drawdown in 2011.

Taliban attack police in SE Afghanistan

By Amir Shah, Associated Press Writer – Thu Jun 17, 2010, 12:53 am ET

KABUL, Afghanistan –

The Taliban claimed responsibility for a suicide car bombing Thursday morning outside a district police headquarters in southeastern Afghanistan that wounded four Afghan policemen, one critically.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said the suicide bomber used a stolen police vehicle to conduct the attack in the Andar district of Ghazni province. Deputy Police Chief Nawroz Ali Nawroz said police saw the vehicle speeding toward them and opened fire before the bomber detonated his explosives, injuring the policemen and damaging the building.

On Wednesday, three Americans were killed by roadside bombs, pushing the death toll among U.S. troops so far this month to 31. NATO said one U.S. servicemember died in a bombing in southern Afghanistan, and two were killed in a bombing in the north.

The northern attack occurred in the Baghi Shirkat area, about 19 miles (30 kilometers) west of Kunduz city, said Kunduz provincial government spokesman, Muhbobullah Sayedi. U.S. and Afghan forces conducted an operation early Wednesday in Baghi Shirkat in which 12 militants were killed, including two local Taliban commanders, Sayedi said.

June is becoming one of the deadliest months for U.S. troops in the nearly 9-year-old Afghan war, as insurgents have stepped up attacks in response to a NATO push into Taliban strongholds in the south.

The deadliest month for U.S. troops in Afghanistan was October 2009, when 59 Americans died, including seven soldiers killed in a single clash near Kandahar and seven who died in a helicopter crash in the northwest not caused by hostile fire.

On Wednesday in Ghazni province, three Afghanis working for a private security company were killed when their vehicle struck a roadside bomb in Muqar district, the deputy police chief said.

Also, nine Pakistani militiamen were apprehended early Wednesday inside Afghan territory in Kunar province, provincial Police Chief Khalilullah Ziaye said. The Pakistanis said they fled into Afghanistan to escape attacks by the Pakistani Taliban against four of their checkpoints, Ziaye said. The nine remained in custody pending an investigation, he said.

(This version CORRECTS Corrects that US service members were killed Wednesday, not Thursday.)