Suicide blast kills 3 NATO soldiers in Afghanistan

KABUL, Aug 28 (Reuters) A suicide bomber killed three NATO soldiers and wounded six in eastern Afghanistan today, the alliance said, taking to nine the number of Western troops killed in Afghanistan since the weekend.

The soldiers were working on a project at a bridge construction site when a 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.

A Taliban spokesman said the bomber was a member of the Islamist group which is fighting to drive Western troops out of the country and to topple President Hamid Karzai's government.

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

REUTERS LPB BD1825