Roadside bomb kills NATO soldier in Afghanistan

Kabul, Aug 3: A roadside bomb killed a NATO soldier today in Afghanistan's south, where the alliance took over security from US forces this week.

Another soldier was wounded when the bomb hit a NATO vehicle in Kandahar province, a stronghold for Taliban insurgents, NATO said in a statement.

Four NATO soldiers, including three Britons, have been killed since Monday when the group took over security for the south, the main bastion for the Islamist Taliban which US-led forces drove from power in 2001.

Six other NATO soldiers have been killed in recent months as the alliance stepped up its deployment.

The Taliban, intensifying operations in recent months, have vowed to topple President Hamid Karzai's US-backed government and drive out foreign forces.

NATO's expansion into the south is aimed at allowing the United States to cut the size of its forces in the country and is the biggest ground operation by the alliance in its history.

Afghanistan is going through its bloodiest phase since the Taliban's ouster with most of the violence in the south and east, where more than 1,700 people including militants, civilians, aid workers, security forces and over 70 foreign troops have been killed this year alone.

Another roadside bomb today, possibly aimed at a NATO convoy, wounded three civilians in the northern province of Baghlan, provincial officials said.

Separately, 22 Taliban guerrillas were either killed or wounded in an operation by Afghan police yesterday in southern Helmand province, an interior ministry spokesman said.

Yousuf Stanizai said only two police were hurt in the operation.

There was no immediate comment from the Taliban.

REUTERS