Suicide blast kills 3 NATO soldiers in Afghan east

KABUL, Aug 28 (Reuters) Three NATO soldiers were killed and six wounded in a suicide raid today in eastern Afghanistan, the alliance said, in the latest spate of rising attacks on Western troops in recent days.

The soldiers were working on a project at a bridge construction site when the bomber detonated explosives attached to his body, NATO said in a statement.

It did not identify the victims. The attack happened in a district of Paktia province and the casualties were US soldiers, a provincial official said.

The deaths bring the number of Western troops killed in Afghanistan since the weekend to nine soldiers.

Violence has surged in the past 19 months in Afghanistan, the bloodiest period since U.S.-led troops overthrew Taliban's government in 2001.

Some 50,000 troops under the command of NATO and the US military are hunting Taliban and their al Qaeda allies in Afghanistan.

REUTERS LPB PM1757