Bombers hit Afghanistan as NATO launches operation

KABUL, Dec 15 (Reuters) Two suicide bombers, one dressed in an Islamic burqa, killed at least two Afghan soldiers and wounded a foreigner today as hundreds of British-led troops launched a major operation in the Taliban's heartland.

European Union leaders vowed to do more to help Afghanistan stamp out its growing insurgency and get back on its feet, citing plans to help in sectors from health to justice and policing.

A suicide car bomber killed two Afghan soldiers and injured at least one NATO soldier in an attack on a convoy in the restive southeastern province of Paktia, police said.

Another male suicide bomber dressed in a burqa -- the all-covering dress worn by some Islamic women -- wounded two more Afghan soldiers in neighbouring Paktika province.

And as winter sets in and fighting enters its traditional annual lull, hundreds of NATO troops backed with armour moved into Kandahar, the Taliban's birthplace in the deserts of the south.

This year's fighting has been the worst since the Taliban were overthrown in 2001 and there has been a dramatic increase in suicide bombings -- a tactic rarely used a year ago and still not as common here as in Iraq.

At least 4,000 people have been killed in 2006, a quarter of them civilians.

TALIBAN HAVEN Overnight, hundreds of British, Estonian and Danish troops, backed by scores of armoured vehicles, moved from Helmand province to north of the Arghindab River valley in neighbouring Kandahar in one of the biggest operations in recent weeks.

British commanders say the area is a haven for Taliban guerrillas in a province that in September saw a massive NATO offensive involving thousands of soldiers. Alliance commanders say it killed several hundred insurgents.

''We're here on an intelligence-led mission against the Taliban,'' said operation commander Lieutenant-Colonel Matt Holmes.

''You can tell by the size of our presence that we mean business.'' Kandahar has seen some of the country's fiercest fighting this year and most of the more than 40 Canadians killed since 2001 have died there.

''All right, let's party,'' said British Marine Taff Blower as members of his Lima Company, 42 Commando, set out in their Viking armoured personnel carriers overnight.

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