Insurgents kill NATO soldier in southern Afghanistan

Insurgents kill NATO soldier in southern Afghanistan

2012-01-31 18:17:57 GMT+7 (ICT)

KABUL (BNO NEWS) -- A coalition service member died in southern Afghanistan on Tuesday after he was attacked by insurgents, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said. His nationality was not immediately known.

ISAF said one of its service members was killed as a result of an insurgent attack in Afghanistan's south. But because the multinational force defers the release of specific details to national authorities, other details about the incident were not immediately available.

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

Tuesday's death raises the number of coalition troops killed in Afghanistan so far this year to 34, according to official figures. The deadliest incident so far this year happened on January 19 when a NATO helicopter crashed in southern Afghanistan, killing six U.S. Marines.

A total of 566 ISAF troops were killed in Afghanistan in 2011, down from 711 in 2010. A majority of the fallen troops were American and were killed in the country's south, which is plagued by IED attacks on troops and civilians.

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 23,000 U.S. troops later this year, and foreign combat troops are due to leave Afghanistan by the end of 2014.

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