Five US soldiers die in Afghanistan: NATO

KABUL: Five US soldiers were killed by insurgents on Saturday in separate incidents while a sixth died in accidental explosion, said Nato’s International Security Assistance Force (Isaf).

Three of the soldiers died in eastern Afghanistan and two were killed in the south, said Isaf.

Meanwhile, a sixth US serviceman also died on Saturday, in an accidental explosion, an Isaf official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

The six deaths bring to 352 the toll of international soldiers in the Afghan war this year, according to a tally kept by AFP based on icasualties.org.

It was the highest one-day toll for international soldiers since the deaths of ten foreign soldiers on June 21.

An Isaf statement said the causes of death in the east were small-arms fire, a home-made bomb attack and an unspecified “insurgent attack”.

The two soldiers who died in the south were killed by homemade bombs, known as improvised explosive devices (IEDs).

US soldiers are known to be involved in a major operation in Kunar province, on Afghanistan’s eastern border with Pakistan, though Isaf would not confirm that the deaths in the east were related to the offensive.

While it is Isaf policy not to reveal the nationalities of the soldiers, an official who asked not to be identified said all were Americans.

IEDs are the biggest killer, with a June UN report marking a 94 per cent increase in IED incidents in the first four months of this year compared to 2009.

The country’s intelligence service said Saturday it had captured a six-man “terrorist cell” in Kabul, thwarting attacks on the capital involving almost half a tonne of explosives.

National Directorate of Security spokesman Sayeed Ansari told reporters the gang, linked to the Pakistan-based Haqqani network, had prepared attacks on the capital, and had been involved in attacks elsewhere.

Separately, a remote-controlled bomb rigged up to a motorbike detonated in the centre of southern Kandahar city on Saturday, killing at least one person, the deputy police chief for Kandahar province, Fazel Ahmad Khan Shairzad said.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 11th, 2010.