Insurgent attack kills NATO soldier in southern Afghanistan

KABUL: A coalition service member was killed in southern Afghanistan on Saturday, according to the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).

ISAF said the service member was killed as a result of an insurgent attack in southern Afghanistan, but no other details were immediately released.

The nationality of the service member was also not immediately disclosed. "It is ISAF policy to defer casualty identification procedures to the relevant national authorities," an ISAF statement said.

Coalition casualties in Afghanistan have been rising sharply in recent years, with a total coalition death toll of 709 in 2010, making it the deadliest year for international troops since the war began in response to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States.

The council of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) eventually declared that the attacks of 9/11, which killed nearly 3,000 people from scores of countries, was considered an attack on all NATO nations. The NATO-backed war in Afghanistan aims to defeat the Taliban and other insurgent groups in the country.

So far this year, more than 50 coalition service members have been killed in Afghanistan. Most of the troops are killed in the country's south, which is plagued by IED attacks on troops and civilians.

(BNO NEWS )