NATO soldier, 3 Taliban killed in Afghanistan

[July 25, 2008]  KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- A NATO soldier was killed and two were wounded during a clash with militants in southern Afghanistan's Helmand province, the military alliance said Friday.

The nation's Interior Ministry, meanwhile, said three Taliban militants died in a fight on Friday with police in a separate district of the same province. There were no police casualties.

The NATO statement did not release the name or nationalities of the casualties, leaving it to the relevant country to do so, but said the clash in Helmand occurred Thursday.

Southern Afghanistan is at the center of a Taliban-led insurgency. The violence has left 2,700 people dead so far this year. Most have been militants, but the number also includes hundreds of civilians.

The militants also exert significant influence in Afghanistan's east, nearly seven years after the U.S.-led invasion of the country ousted the Taliban from power.

[Associated Press]

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