Global General

Attacks kill 5 foreign troops in Afghanistan

(Agencies)
Updated: 2010-10-14 20:41

KABUL?– Five foreign troops from the NATO-led force were killed in three separate attacks in Afghanistan on Thursday, NATO said, bringing to 11 the number of troops killed in the last two days.

Violence in Afghanistan is at its highest levels since the overthrow of the Taliban in late 2001, with rising casualties on all sides of the conflict. More than 2,000 foreign troops have died since then, over half in the last two years.

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More than 35 foreign troops have died in Afghanistan this month alone.

Three troops with the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) were killed by a homemade bomb in the west of the country, ISAF said, while another service member was killed in the east in an insurgent attack.

A fifth ISAF service member died in a bomb attack in southern Afghanistan.

ISAF did not give any further details on the attacks.

Six foreign troops were killed in three attacks in the east and south of the country on Wednesday.

The rise in troop deaths will weigh heavily on US President Barack Obama and his administration ahead of a review of the war in Afghanistan in December.

There are nearly 150,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan, including 100,000 Americans. Obama ordered an extra 30,000 US troops to Afghanistan in December to try and quell the violence but plans to start withdrawing forces from the middle of 2011.