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Afghan blast kills Nato soldiers | Afghan blast kills Nato soldiers |
(about 3 hours later) | |
A suicide bomber has attacked a Nato military convoy in the southern Afghan province of Helmand, killing two Danish soldiers and a Czech soldier. | |
Police say an Afghan interpreter was also killed. Correspondents say that there are conflicting reports as to whether civilians were also killed. | |
Earlier reports said some civilians were killed in the blast in the district of Gereshk. | |
There has been a sharp increase in violence in Afghanistan this year. | |
Suicide bombs are increasingly common. | |
Explosive vest | |
The BBC'S Alastair Leithead says that the Nato troops were on patrol when they were attacked by the suicide bomber, who was on foot. | |
An eyewitness told the BBC the man was young and had detonated his explosive vest among the soldiers, who were not in vehicles. | |
The spokesman for the Helmand Task Force, Lt Col Simon Millar, said that the three soldiers who died all worked to co-ordinate civilian and military aid. | |
Our correspondent says that there are conflicting reports of civilian casualties. | |
Nato and one local official say six people were injured. But the police chief says that three were killed. | |
Insurgents have been increasingly using suicide and roadside bomb attacks to target international and Afghan security forces. | |
More than 450 international troops have died in Afghanistan since the beginning of 2006 - Nato has also confirmed that a Canadian soldier was killed on Sunday while on a foot patrol in neighbouring Kandahar province. | |
Last week, six people were killed and at least 15 injured in a car bomb attack on a coalition convoy near the airport in the capital, Kabul. | Last week, six people were killed and at least 15 injured in a car bomb attack on a coalition convoy near the airport in the capital, Kabul. |
In February a car bomb in the southern city of Kandahar killed more than 100 people. It was the worst single attack since the fall of the Taleban in 2001. | |
A UN report published this week said there were 8,000 conflict-related deaths in 2007 - a fifth of which were civilians. | A UN report published this week said there were 8,000 conflict-related deaths in 2007 - a fifth of which were civilians. |