Five NATO soldiers were killed by a bomb in southern Afghanistan on Thursday, as the Taliban rejected a US claim to have killed the fighters who shot down an American helicopter killing 38 troops. The soldiers’ nationalities and full details of the blast were not disclosed by the International Security Assistance Force but they were the latest victims of the deadly insurgency’s increasing use of crude, home-made bombs.
At least 387 coalition soldiers have now been killed in Afghanistan so far this year, according to an AFP tally based on that kept by independent website icasualties.org. That compares to a total of 711 deaths for the whole of last year. South Afghanistan is the Taliban’s traditional heartland and was the focus of a US troop surge from 2010 that commanders say has made significant progress.
However, the Taliban still frequently target foreign forces with crudely-assembled improvised explosive devices that strike troops on foot patrol or travelling in armoured vehicles. From April to June, 3,485 IEDs exploded or were found in Afghanistan, according to the Pentagon, a 14 percent increase on the same period last year.
