One Nato soldier was killed by friendly fire and several were wounded on Monday during a major offensive to crush a resurgent Taleban in southern Afghanistan.
The troops were strafed by two of their own warplanes after calling in air support during a battle at close quarters with Taliban fighters in Kandahar province, the alliance said in a statement. And a British soldier died in a suicide bombing in Kabul, along with at least four civilians, including an Afghan working for foreign troops.
The bomber rammed his car into a Nato convoy on the highway between Kabul and the eastern city of Jalalabad, Interior Ministry spokesman Yousuf Stanizai said. A Nato spokesman said three British soldiers were also wounded, in what was the third suicide attack against Nato forces in Kabul this year.
Nato launched Operation Medusa on Saturday, its biggest thrust against the Taleban since taking over southern Afghanistan on July 31 in the largest ground operation in its history.
The fatality in Kandahar was Nato's fifth combat death in the operation. Four Canadians were killed over the weekend. Another 14 British troops died when their plane crashed on Saturday in the early stages of the operation. Nato says the crash was due to technical problems, not enemy fire. Nato chief in Afghanistan Lieutenant-General David Richards said Operation Medusa was a "pivotal" campaign.