Bombs kill four NATO soldiers in Afghanistan (Roundup)

Jul 17, 2010, 13:24 GMT

Kabul - Four soldiers of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) were killed by separate roadside bombs in southern and eastern Afghanistan, the military said Saturday.

One soldier was killed Saturday the east of the country in a roadside bomb explosion, while another foreign service-member died in a similar attack in southern Afghanistan also on Saturday, the ISAF said in a statement.

Two more NATO soldiers were killed in another blast in the volatile southern region on Friday, the military alliance said in a separate statement. ISAF did not reveal the nationalities of the deceased.

The British Defence Ministry, however, said that one of its soldiers was killed in a explosion Saturday during a foot patrol in Sangin district of southern province of Helmand.

The second British soldier was killed in another blast in Helmand's Nahr-e-Saraj district, the ministry said in a statement posted on its website.

Taliban militants rely largely on use of roadside attacks as part of their insurgency against the Western-backed Afghan government and US-led international troops in the country.

More than 370 foreign soldiers - two thirds of them US troops - have been killed in the Afghan war so far this year. The majority of the troops were killed by the homemade bombs.

Compared with the same period in 2009, NATO casualties have doubled in the first half of this year.

Around 140,000 US and NATO troops are currently stationed in Afghanistan. Some 10,000 more soldiers are expected to arrive in the southern region by August.

The troop escalation is aimed at augmenting the combined forces in the region before a planned major operation in summer.