5 NATO soldiers killed in E. Afghanistan
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Five NATO soldiers were killed in an insurgent attack in eastern Afghanistan on Saturday, the NATO- led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said in a statement.
"Five International Security Assistance Force service members died following an insurgent attack in eastern Afghanistan today," said the statement released here by ISAF.
However, the brief statement did not reveal the nationalities of the victims, saying "it is ISAF policy to defer casualty identification procedures to the relevant national authorities."
Troops mainly from the United States have been serving in eastern Afghan provinces to fight Taliban insurgents.
ISAF casualties have been reported just hours after a suicide bombing rocked an Afghan National Army (ANA) garrison in Afghanistan's eastern Laghman province.
A statement of the Afghan Defense Ministry released here confirmed that four Afghan army soldiers were killed and eight others including four local interpreters of foreign troops were injured in the attack.
The statement also asserted that NATO-led troops "suffered fatalities in the suicide attack", but did not give more details.
According to the statement of the Defense Ministry, a suicide bomber in army uniform blew himself up at around 07:30 local time in Dashit-e-Gimbiray in Laghman province.
This was the second bloody suicide attack carried out against security forces in Afghanistan over the past two days.
In the previous attack against police in the southern Kandahar province on Friday, provincial police chief Khan Mohammad Mujahid and two others were killed.
Taliban militants who had claimed responsibility for the suicide attack in Kandahar also claimed responsibility for targeting army compound in Laghman province Saturday morning.
Zabihullah Mujahid who claimed to speak for the armed outfit told media via telephone from undisclosed location that a militant Ahmad who was an Afghan army soldier carried out the bombing.
Saturday's causality brings to 125 the number of NATO-led soldiers who have been killed since the beginning of this year in Afghanistan.
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