Two NATO soldiers killed in attacks in southern Afghanistan

May 28, 2011, 11:08 GMT

Kabul - Two soldiers from the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) were killed Saturday in attacks in southern Afghanistan, the alliance said.

One soldier was killed in a roadside bomb while another was killed in a suspected insurgent attack, ISAF said in a statement, without revealing their nationalities or the exact locations of the incidents.

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

The latest fatalities take the death toll for NATO forces to 15 in three days. On Thursday, eight US soldiers were killed in a roadside bomb in a southern province, the deadliest single attack on American forces so far this year.

More than 200 foreign troops have been killed in the conflict so far this year, according to ICasualties.org, an independent website that tracks NATO military fatalities in Afghanistan.

Taliban-led insurgents stepped up their attacks after their movement announced the spring offensive against more than 140,000 US-led troops, currently based in Afghanistan, last month.

The US, which has deployed two-thirds of foreign forces to the country, is planning to draw down its forces from July, while all 49 troop-contributing nations are expected to withdraw their combat forces by the end of 2014.