NATO, US soldiers killed in blasts in Afghanistan
By DPA, IANSSaturday, June 12, 2010
KUNDUZ - A US soldier was killed and three others were injured in a blast in northern Afghanistan Saturday, while a NATO soldier was killed in a similar attack in the south, officials said.
The US military forces were patrolling in the Zakhel area of Kunduz city, the capital for the province of the same name when one of their vehicles was hit by a roadside bomb, Mohammad Omar, the provincial governor said.
“One US soldier was killed and three others were injured in the attack,” Omar told DPA. An Afghan child who was close to the scene of the explosion was injured, he said.
NATO military in Kabul confirmed in a statement that one of its soldiers was killed in the northern region, but did not disclose the deceased’s nationality.
A military vehicle was flipped over by the force of the blast, while two helicopters landed near the site of the attack to evacuate the injured.
Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the attack by phone from an undisclosed location, claiming that six US soldiers were killed when their fighters hit a military tank with a remote-controlled roadside bomb.
US and German troops are stationed in Kunduz as part of more than 120,000 NATO and US soldiers currently based in the country. The total number of foreign troops in Afghanistan is set to peak at 150,000 by this summer.
Separately, a NATO soldier was killed in a roadside bomb explosion in eastern Afghanistan, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Forces confirmed in a statement.
The statement did not reveal the soldier’s nationality, nor say where exactly in the region the incident took place. Most of the soldiers deployed to eastern provinces are from the United States.
Saturday’s death came a day after two US soldiers and another NATO service member were killed in separate attacks in southern Afghanistan. The latest death takes to 256 the total number of
foreign troops killed in Afghan conflict so far this year - with 36 of those in the past two weeks alone.
