Foreign soldier killed in Afghan blast

A foreign soldier was killed by a home-made bomb in southern Afghanistan on Sunday, Nato's International Security Assistance Force said in a statement.

No further details were given in line with ISAF policy but police in Kandahar province told AFP that the blast happened in Spin Boldak district, near the border with Pakistan. The death comes after three foreign soldiers were killed on Saturday in an insurgent attack in the same volatile region, which is the focus of the counter-insurgency drive against the Taliban.

A total of 637 foreign troops have now been killed in Afghanistan this year, according to an AFP count based on the independent icasualties.org web site, which tracks coalition fatalities and injuries.

Improvised explosive devices account for the majority of coalition fatalities. There are currently more than 150,000 troops deployed in Afghanistan to support the Western-backed government of President Hamid Karzai and fight an increasing Taliban-led insurgency that has stretched across the country.

ISAF and Afghan National Army troops on Saturday foiled a pre-dawn Taliban attack on a major military airbase in Jalalabad, eastern Afghanistan, killing eight militants.
 

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