Two soldiers killed in blasts in southern Afghanistan (2nd Roundup)

Jul 12, 2009, 19:44 GMT

Kabul - Two US soldiers participating in NATO-led operations were killed in two roadside bomb blasts in southern Helmand province, the multi-national force in Afghanistan said Sunday.

The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) had earlier said four soldiers were killed, but later issued a correction decreasing the number of deaths.

The US soldiers were killed on Saturday in two separate incidents in southern Helmand province, where a major anti-Taliban assault involving nearly 5,000 Afghan forces and US Marines is ongoing, a NATO spokeswoman in Kabul earlier told German Press Agency dpa.

The ISAF confirmed the deaths of the soldiers in a statement, but did not reveal the nationalities of the soldiers.

Southern Helmand is the main hub for Taliban insurgents, whose government was toppled in a US military invasion in late 2001.

Fifteen British soldiers were killed in the province in the past 10 days, taking the total number British servicemen killed in Afghanistan since their deployment in late 2001 to 186, more than the number of British soldiers killded during the country's involvement in Iraq. More than 8,300 British soldiers are stationed in Helmand.

The ISAF statement also said a third soldier succumbed to injuries sustained in combat in Afghanistan last month. The soldier died on July 10 in his home country, it said, but did not disclose his nationality.

There are around 90,000 international troops deployed from 42 nations in Afghanistan. More than half are US soldiers.

Thousands of forces, mainly from the US, Canada, and Britain, are taking part in several operations throughout the country to drive the Taliban militants out of several districts and villages before the August 20 presidential elections.

Afghan and British troops have killed up to 200 insurgents in Helmand province as part of British-led Operation Panther's Claw in the past three weeks, Zemarai Bashary, an interior ministry spokesman told a press conference on Sunday.

Around 70 more insurgents were killed in a separate operation, dubbed 'Khanjar' or 'Strike of Sword', conducted by some 4,000 US Marine and 650 Afghan army and police forces in the Helmand province since July 2, Zahir Azimi, a defence ministry spokesman, told a separate press conference in Kabul on Sunday.

The objectives of the ongoing operations are to drive the militants from several districts in Helmand in order to facilitate security for the upcoming elections.

So far the combined forces have recaptured one district, while efforts are underway to retake control of around five more districts. Military sources have admitted that freshly planted roadside bombs by the insurgents have hampered combined forces' advances toward the remaining districts.

In another incident, Afghan and NATO forces retook control of the Barg-e-Matal district in eastern Nuristan province, the Afghan defence ministry and ISAF said in statements.

The combined forces entered the district center without any resistance on Sunday morning, two days after the militants captured the district following a bloody firefight that left 21 Taliban fighters and six police officers dead.