3 NATO Soldiers Killed in Taliban Fighters' Attacks, January 16, 2010

3 NATO Soldiers Killed in Taliban Fighters' Attacks

January 16, 2010

Two soldiers killed in Afghanistan: ministry

Sat Jan 16, 2010, 6:32 am ET

LONDON (AFP) –

An explosion has killed two soldiers in southern Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defence said on Saturday.

"Two British soldiers from 3rd Battalion, The Rifles were killed by an explosion near Sangin in Helmand Province yesterday (Friday)," military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel David Wakefield said in a statement.

"They were on a foot patrol protecting the local population from insurgents when the attack happened."

Their deaths bring to four the number of British soldiers killed in Afghanistan this year.

A total of 108 British service personnel died in Afghanistan last year, the bloodiest for the military since the 1982 Falklands War. A total of 249 have been killed since operations began in 2001.

Afghan bomb kills NATO soldier as troop toll hits 27

Sat Jan 16, 2010

KABUL (AFP) –

A foreign soldier fighting the Taliban in southern Afghanistan was killed on Saturday by a remote-controlled bomb, NATO said in a statement.

The brief statement from NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) did not give the nationality of the soldier, or the exact location of the incident.

"An ISAF service member was killed today in an IED strike in southern Afghanistan," it said, referring to improvised explosive devices which are the scourge of troops fighting the insurgents.

Military intelligence officials have said IEDs -- crude bombs usually detonated by remote control -- account for up to 90 percent of foreign troop deaths in a war that is now in its ninth year.

The death brings to 27 the number of foreign troops -- of which there are 113,000 in Afghanistan fighting alongside Afghan forces -- to have died so far this year.

Britain's Ministry of Defence reported on Saturday that an explosion killed two British soldiers in southern Afghanistan on Friday.

"They were on a foot patrol protecting the local population from insurgents when the attack happened."

Their deaths bring to four the number of British soldiers killed in Afghanistan this year.

A total of 108 British service personnel died in Afghanistan last year, the bloodiest for the British military since the 1982 Falklands War. A total of 249 have been killed since operations began in 2001.

The total number of foreign soldiers killed in the country in 2009 was 520, compared to 295 the year before.

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