Kabul: Six NATO soldiers were killed in
attacks in Afghanistan on Wednesday, alliance forces said, bringing
to 75 the number of foreign troops who have died in the
troubled nation this month.
The deaths of one British marine and five other soldiers,
whose nationalities were not released, made it nearly certain
June would be the worst month for NATO casualties since the
2001 invasion to oust the Taliban.
The British marine was killed in a small arms fire in
Helmand province, a hotbed of the Taliban insurgency in
southern Afghanistan, the UK defence ministry said in
statement.
Four other soldiers died in homemade bomb attacks -- two
in the south, one in the east and one in the west -- while one
soldier died in an accident on patrol in western Afghanistan
NATO announced in Kabul.
The deadliest month for NATO`s International Security
Assistance Force (ISAF) in the nine-year war occurred in
August last year, when 77 soldiers were killed.
So far 295 NATO troops have died this year, according to
AFP tallies based on the independent icasualties.org website.
In a separate incident today, seven security guards were
killed when their vehicle struck an improvised bomb in the
province of Uruzgan in southern Afghanistan, a police official
told AFP.
Much of southern Afghanistan is blighted by the Taliban
insurgency, now in its deadliest phase since the US-led
invasion ousted the hardline Islamist regime and installed a
Western-backed administration led by Hamid Karzai.
The US military has warned that casualties will
inevitably mount as foreign forces build up their campaign to
oust the militants from the southern province of Kandahar, a
hotbed of bombings, assassinations and lawlessness.
PTI
