South Asia News

Four Afghan soldiers, translator killed by bomb

Mar 2, 2011, 8:21 GMT

Kabul - Four national army soldiers and a translator for NATO troops were killed by a remote-controlled bomb in a central Afghan town, a government spokesman said Wednesday.

'Four Afghan National Army soldiers were patrolling in Charkh district of Logar [province] when a bomb in a shop exploded with the help of a remote,' Din Mohammad Darwish, a provincial spokesman, said.

The army unit was on an operation with NATO forces in the volatile province. No foreign troops suffered casualties, Darwish said.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid took responsibility for the attack.

Afghan forces are taking over security responsibilities of a few key secured areas from foreign forces starting this year. Those areas are to be announced on March 21 by Afghan President Hamid Karzai. The security handover for all of the country is to be completed in 2014.

There are currently 152,000 soldiers in the Afghan army. The government plans to increase that number to 208,000 by 2013.

Last year, more than 800 Afghan soldiers were killed in Taliban-led violence throughout Afghanistan.

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