Taliban attack kills 2 US-led soldiers

Press TV, Mon Dec 6, 2010, 2:25PM

A bomb explosion has killed two US-led foreign soldiers and two Afghan civilians and wounded 20 others in a bazaar outside a NATO base in southeast Afghanistan.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the blast in the Gardez district of Paktia, a province located to the south of Kabul and close to the Pakistani border.

Major S Justin Platt, front man for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Paktia, confirmed several casualties in the incident.

"There were two ISAF soldiers killed and six maimed," Platt said.

However, the US-led military alliance did not reveal the nationalities of the victims.

The blast took place as a group of foreign and Afghan soldiers were shopping, a Press TV correspondent reported on Sunday. At least four Afghan troops were also reported to have been wounded.

"Two Afghan shopkeepers were killed. Eighteen other people were maimed," Rohullah Samoon, a front man for the provincial governor, said by phone.

The Taliban claimed that 19 Afghan and foreign soldiers were killed in the attack.

This year has been the deadliest for foreign troops since the war began in late 2001. Some 680 US-led soldiers have died so far in 2010 compared to 521 for all of 2009. Around 2,250 foreign troops have died in Afghanistan since the start of the war.

Earlier on Sunday, ISAF said one of its service members had died in a separate bomb attack in the south of the country but did not give any further details about the deadly incident.

NATO has not ruled out the possibility that friendly-fire might have caused the casualty and is investigating the incident.

The developments come as foreign forces are under criticism for causing civilian casualties in the war-torn country.

Foreign forces are often accused of killing civilians during operations launched against militants in the country.

A United Nations report says over 1,200 Afghan civilians lost their lives in the first half of 2010.

MAG/CS/MMN

British soldier killed in Afghanistan

– Mon Dec 6, 3:18 am ET

LONDON (AFP) –

 A British soldier has been shot dead while on patrol in southern Afghanistan, the Ministry of Denfence in London said.

The soldier from 3rd Battalion The Parachute Regiment died after sustaining wounds on an operation in the Nad-e Ali district of Helmand Province on Sunday, bringing the British military death in Afghanistan to 346 since 2001.

His next of kin have been informed.

"The soldier was part of an operation aiming to increase security in the Nad-e Ali District of Helmand Province when he was shot and subsequently died of his wounds," said military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel David Eastman.

Britain has almost 10,000 troops in the war-ravaged country, the second largest contingent after the United States, with most of them deployed in Helmand Province.

NATO forces investigate possible friendly fire incident in Afghanistan

By the CNN Wire Staff

December 6, 2010 8:50 a.m. EST

Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) --

The International Security Assistance Force announced Monday that it is investigating a possible friendly fire incident in southern Afghanistan that resulted in the death of a British soldier.

The incident occurred Sunday when Afghan forces and NATO-led service members on the ground in Helmand province encountered insurgents "and requested close air support to suppress enemy fire," according to ISAF.

"In the subsequent contact, an ISAF service member was killed," ISAF said in a statement.

Britain's Ministry of Defence said a U.S. aircraft provided the air support, and "initial reports suggest that the death was caused as a result of a friendly fire incident."

The soldier's name has not been released at the request of family, the Ministry of Defence said.