Bomb blast kills 3 NATO troops in southern Afghanistan

[News_Editor]

Bomb blast kills 3 NATO troops in southern Afghanistan

2011-09-30 02:19:49 GMT+7 (ICT)

KABUL (BNO NEWS) -- Three more coalition service members were killed on Wednesday when a roadside bomb exploded in southern Afghanistan, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said on Thursday, raising Wednesday's total death toll to 9.

ISAF said Thursday that three of its service members were killed as a result of an improvised explosive device (IED) attack in Afghanistan's south on Wednesday. As usual, the multinational force gave no other details about the incident, including the exact location.

The nationalities of the service members were also not immediately disclosed by ISAF. "It is ISAF policy to defer casualty identification procedures to the relevant national authorities," a brief statement said.

The deaths, which were not disclosed until Thursday, raise Wednesday's coalition death toll in Afghanistan to nine, making it one of the deadliest days in weeks.

Among those killed was a soldier from New Zealand who was shot and killed while Afghan officials were attempting to serve an arrest warrant in a compound southeast of Kabul which was suspected to house suicide bombers. The officials were accompanied by a number of New Zealand Special Air Service (SAS) personnel.

In another incident, three coalition service members were killed when a roadside bomb exploded in eastern Afghanistan. Additionally, two ISAF service members died of a non-battle related injury but no other details were released.

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.

There are currently more than 130,000 ISAF troops in Afghanistan, including some 90,000 U.S. troops and more than 9,500 British soldiers. U.S. President Barack Obama previously ordered a drawdown of 10,000 American troops later this year, with another 23,000 U.S. troops to return home next year.

So far this year, at least 466 coalition service members have been killed in Afghanistan. Most troops are American and are killed in the country's south, which is plagued by IED attacks on troops and civilians. The deadliest incident happened last month when a U.S. helicopter crashed in eastern Afghanistan, killing 30 U.S. troops, seven Afghan troops and an Afghan interpreter.

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