Civilian, NATO soldiers killed in Afghanistan

KABUL - NATO said Monday that one of its soldiers was killed by a roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan, where another foreign soldier was killed in a small arms fire.

One Afghan civilian was also killed in the eastern region, while roadside and suicide bombings injured 18 people elsewhere in the country, officials said.

Both foreign soldiers were killed Sunday, NATO said, without revealing the nationalities.

Most of the troops stationed in the southern region are from the United States, Britain, Canada and the Netherlands.

The latest deaths took to 223 the total number of foreign soldiers killed this year in the country, according to icasualties.org, an independent website that tracks fatalities in Iraq and Afghanistan.

A NATO helicopter “made a hard landing” in Jaji district of southeastern province of Paktia Sunday, officials said.

“A civilian on the ground was killed when he was struck by debris and three crew members received minor injuries,” a statement said.

It ruled out any involvement of insurgent fire, but Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said by phone from an undisclosed location that their fighters shot down the chopper and killed 17 US soldiers.

Also in eastern region, a suicide bomber targeted a police station in Khost Sunday night, injuring eight policemen and seven civilians, the interior ministry said.

The bomber tried to enter the station, but was identified by police and stopped, it said, adding that he detonated explosives in his vehicle as he was shot by police.

Two civilians and one policeman were injured in the western province of Herat Monday when a roadside bomb was remotely detonated by suspected insurgents in Anjil district, the ministry said.