Thus, today's news come from the NATO side only.

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NATO suffers deadliest day this year in Afghanistan

by Karim Talbi Karim Talbi –

June 7, 2010

KABUL (AFP) –

Ten NATO soldiers, seven of them American, were killed in a string of attacks in Afghanistan on Monday, the deadliest day for the alliance this year and one of the worst of the conflict.

Five US soldiers were killed by an improvised explosive device (IED) in eastern Afghanistan, while another American died in a separate IED attack and the seventh one from small arms fire in the south, said Lieutenant Colonel Beth Robbins in Washington.

In Kabul the Western alliance fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan said a total of 10 of its soldiers had been killed in various incidents throughout the day.

France said one of its troops was killed and three others wounded in a rocket attack by Taliban fighters in eastern Afghanistan Monday, but was unable to confirm whether the French casualty was among the 10 announced by NATO.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy "forcefully condemned this blind violence and expressed France's determination to continue working as part of the ISAF," his office said.

Separately, two foreign contractors, one of them an American, were killed Monday in a suicide attack on an Afghan police training centre in the southern city of Kandahar, the US embassy said. Three militants armed with bombs and guns were killed in the suicide attack.

NATO, US and Afghan troops are preparing their biggest offensive yet against the Taliban in Kandahar province, with total foreign troop numbers in the country set to peak at 150,000 by August.

 US President Barack Obama hopes the counter-insurgency strategy focused on the south can allow US troops to start withdrawing next year.

According to an AFP tally, based on one kept by the independent website icasualties.org, 245 foreign soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan so far this year. Last year was the deadliest yet with 520 killed.

Monday's toll was the highest for a single day since the deaths of 11 French soldiers on one day in August 2008. The latest deaths follow Sunday's killings of five NATO soldiers, four of them Americans, in two separate attacks and a vehicle accident.

In Madrid, US special envoy Richard Holbrooke said more funds for Afghanistan's plan to reintegrate Taliban fighters who renounce violence were likely to be pledged next month at a conference in Kabul.

The July 20 conference is a follow-up to a London summit in January, when donors pledged an initial 140 million dollars (100 million euros) to a so-called Afghanistan Peace and Reconciliation Programme trust fund.

"Almost 200 million dollars has been committed under a programme led by the Japanese... and there will more developments on this at the Kabul conference," Holbrooke said.

In the attack on the police training centre, one of the (Taliban fighters) detonated a bomb-filled car along the wall of the facility hoping to punch open a route for his comrades, the interior ministry said in Kabul.

The two others were shot dead by police guards, ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary told AFP.

There was no claim of responsibility for the bombing but Afghanistan's Taliban is leading a nearly nine-year insurgency to bring down the Western-backed government and evict foreign troops.

Elsewhere, in the southern province of Ghazni, police said five Afghan security guards were killed in two separate attacks while they were escorting NATO logistics convoys.

"There were two roadside bomb attacks against the convoys in Andar and Ab Band districts. Three guards were killed in Andar district and two were killed in Ab Band district," said Ghazni police chief Khial Baz Shairzai.

In Washington a US army spokeswoman said an American soldier had been charged with the murder of three civilians in Afghanistan and four others had been implicated but not charged in the crimes.

Specialist Jeremy Morlock, 22, was charged Friday with premeditated murder and assault in three separate incidents that occurred between January and May this year in Kandahar province.

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Afghan-ISAF Operations in Kandahar, Uruzgan

6/6/10 | ISAF Public Affairs Office

ISAF Joint Command - Afghanistan 2010-06-CA-021

KABUL, Afghanistan (June 7, 2010) -

An Afghan-international security force detained an individual suspected of insurgent activity in Kandahar Province today.

 The combined force went to a compound in west Kandahar City, after intelligence information indicated insurgent activity. The force detained the suspect for further questioning.

 No shots were fired and no one was harmed during the operation.

 In another operation, Afghan National Army soldiers of the 205th Corps, supported by ISAF, discovered a weapons cache in Tarin Kot, Uruzgan district, yesterday.

 The cache contained 88 grenades, eight containers of grenade fuses, three rocket propelled grenade fuel cells, three 82 mm mortars and seven electronic detonators. The mortars were destroyed and the grenades were removed for further investigation.

 Afghan-ISAF Operations in Eastern, Western Afghanistan

6/4/10 | ISAF Public Affairs Office

ISAF Joint Command - Afghanistan

10-06-CA-018

KABUL, Afghanistan (June 6, 2010) -

A Taliban commander and multiple other insurgents were killed by coalition forces during an operation in Farah Province yesterday and last night.

Aircraft engaged insurgents with precision air strikes, killing several, in a rural area of Gulistan district after coalition forces observed armed individuals moving through a known insurgent safe haven.
 A ground search team later approached the strike area and saw several heavily armed insurgents in a cave and shot and killed them. The search team found rocket propelled grenade (RPG) launchers with RPG rounds, heavy machine guns, automatic rifles and ammunition.

The insurgent commander, Mullah Akhtar, had close ties with Taliban and al-Qaeda senior leaders. He was responsible for arranging training for foreign fighters from Iran and helped resolve disputes between militant networks.

An Afghan-international security force captured a Haqqani network improvised explosive device (IED) cell leader and several other insurgents in Khost Province last night.

The combined force went to a compound north of Mehdi Kheyl, Khost district, after insurgents were seen implanting IEDs nearby. The assault force captured the targeted individual and other insurgents while searching the buildings.

The Haqqani network leader is responsible for emplacing IEDs, acquiring and distributing weapons, and coordinating suicide bombings.

No shots were fired and no one was harmed during the operation.

Another Afghan-international security force killed and captured a number of insurgents while pursuing a Taliban IED cell commander in Logar Province last night.

The combined force moved on a compound in Nawshad, Charkh district, after intelligence information indicated insurgent activity.

As the assault force approached the compound they received hostile fire, and while clearing the compound, several insurgents were killed and several were captured. The team found a machine gun, multiple automatic rifles, grenades and ammunition.
 

10 US-led troops killed in Afghanistan

Press TV, Mon, 07 Jun 2010 18:13:16 GMT

The US-led alliance has issued new figures on its losses in Afghanistan, saying that at least ten of its soldiers have been killed in separate incidents.

A spokesman for the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said that five of the soldiers died in a bomb explosion in eastern Afghanistan on Monday.

ISAF says one soldier died as a result of small arms fire in the east and another was killed by an improvised explosive device (IED) in the south.

Earlier, NATO said in a statement that at least three of its troops were killed in shootings and bomb attacks in the south, where US-led forces have lost several grounds to the Taliban militants over the past months.

The exact location of the incidents and the nationality of the dead soldiers were not revealed.

The latest deaths bring the number of NATO troops killed in Afghanistan so far this year to 245.

NATO currently has about 130,000 soldiers in the troubled country. The US has plans to deploy 30,000 additional troops there by August.

Last year was the deadliest year for US-led troops in Afghanistan. A total of 520 foreign soldiers died in the country in 2009.

The US-led invasion was launched with the official objective of curbing militancy and bringing peace and stability to the war-ravaged country.

After nine years, the US-led forces have yet to bring security to Afghanistan.

JR/MB

3 US-led troops killed in Afghanistan

Press TV, Mon, 07 Jun 2010 15:01:06 GMT

Three US-led troops have been killed in shooting and bomb attacks in Afghanistan amid a new surge of violence against foreign forces in the war-torn country.

An American soldier was slain by small arms fire in the southern Afghanistan over the past 24 hours, NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said on Monday.

In a separate incident, a bomb explosion killed two soldiers in the same volatile region, ISAF said.

The exact location of the incidents and the nationality of the two deceased soldiers were not announced although most of the troops deployed in Afghanistan are American.

The latest deaths bring the number of NATO troops killed in Afghanistan so far this year to 238.

NATO currently has about 130,000 soldiers in the troubled country. The US has plans to deploy 30,000 additional troops there by August.

Last year was the deadliest year for US-led troops in Afghanistan. A total of 520 foreign soldiers died in the country in 2009.

After nine years, the US-led forces have yet to bring security to Afghanistan.

JR/MB