A roadside bomb killed four service members from the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan’s volatile east on Monday, the coalition said in a statement, one of the worst attacks on foreign troops in recent weeks. ISAF gave no other details, including the nationalities of those killed. Most of the troops serving in the volatile eastern provinces near the border with Pakistan are American, although some other members of the NATO force are stationed there. Violence has surged across Afghanistan this month since the Afghan Taliban announced the start of its long-awaited “spring offensive”.
US commanders had warned of a spike in violence this month as the Taliban and other militants seek to hit back after NATO-led forces made significant gains in arresting a growing insurgency, particularly in the Taliban heartland in the south, over the past 18 months. They have warned that significant attacks would be likely in the east, where the insurgency is much more fragmented, and in major cities. On Saturday, a suicide bomber killed six medical students in an attack in the main military hospital in a heavily guarded area of the capital Kabul, not far from the US embassy. The next day, four Taliban suicide bombers staged a brazen assault on a police compound in the eastern Khost city, killing three police, two Afghan soldiers and a civilian.
