A Nato soldier was killed by a roadside bomb explosion in southern Afghanistan Saturday, while the Afghan and international forces killed 47 suspected Taliban and an Afghan women in separate operations elsewhere in the country, the military said.
In the latest incident, the soldier, who was a member of the Nato- led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) died of wounds he had sustained during a roadside bomb blast in the southern region, ISAF said in a statement. The statement did not reveal the nationality of the soldier, nor did it say where exactly in southern region the incident took place.
Most of the soldiers serving under the banner of ISAF are from Canada, Britain, Netherlands and the United States. In southern Helmand province, Afghan and US-led coalition forces killed 15 militants in an operation in Kajaki district on Saturday, the US military said in statement. The compounds where the militants were targeted were used for weapons and bomb-making, materials trafficking, and as a safe-haven for insurgent fighters moving between Helmand and Oruzgan provinces, it said.
Also in Kajaki district, the combined forces killed 20 other suspected insurgents in another operation on Friday, a separate US military statement said. The militants were killed by small arms fire and airstrike after they attacked the combined forces who were conducting a combat reconnaissance patrol in the areas, the statement said, adding that six Taliban fighting positions were also destroyed.
Kajaki district, where the largest hydro-power plant in the region is located, has witnessed a series of clashes between Taliban insurgents and Afghan forces backed by international troops. In the past five days more than 100 insurgents were killed in separate clash in Kajaki and in the neighbouring province of Uruzgan, according to military sources.