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NATO soldier killed in southern Afghanistan
[April 08, 2009] KABUL (AP) -- A NATO soldier was killed Wednesday in southern Afghanistan, while a separate bomb blast wounded six civilians on a road close to the military alliance's main base in the region.
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The latest violence came as Poland's President Lech Kaczynski held talks in Kabul with President Hamid Karzai and reiterated his country's plans to increase its troop contribution in the country by 20 percent this year. Southern Afghanistan is the center of a growing Taliban-led insurgency, where thousands of new U.S. troops will deploy later this year to try to reverse militant gains of the last three years. NATO said in a statement that one of its soldiers was killed Wednesday in a "hostile incident" in southern Afghanistan, but it did not provide the exact location of the incident or the nationality of the victim. Also Wednesday, a roadside blast hit a civilian vehicle south of Kandahar city, wounding six civilians, said the spokesman for Kandahar province's governor, Zalmai Ayubi. Two of those hurt were in critical condition, he said. Militants regularly plant bombs alongside roads used by foreign and Afghan troops, but the majority of victims in those attacks are civilians. Poland has 1,600 troops in Afghanistan as part of the NATO-led force and is among the few countries other than the United States to substantially increase the number of soldiers pledged to fight insurgent groups. President Barack Obama and NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer have called for more troops to provide security for August's crucial presidential and local elections. |
