June deadliest month in Afghanistan

Six more US-led soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan, making June the deadliest single month for foreign troops in the nearly nine-year-long conflict.

NATO said in a statement on Thursday that four of the soldiers were killed as a result of a vehicle accident in southern Afghanistan on Wednesday. The fifth soldier was reported dead in another vehicle accident in the war-torn country’s west, while an improvised explosive device led to the death of the sixth troop.

The alliance, however, did not disclose the nationalities of the soldiers and the locations of the incidents.

The latest deaths bring the number of NATO soldiers killed in Afghanistan during this month alone to 80.

The number of foreign fatalities in Afghanistan has soared to almost 300 this year, as the militants increased their attacks against the NATO forces.

The rising number of casualties has increased opposition to the Afghan war in the member states of the Western military alliance.

The latest developments come as General Stanley McChrystal, the top US and NATO commander in Afghanistan, was forced out of office on Wednesday for his scathing criticism of US President Barack Obama’s administration.

Analysts say the dismissal has finally brought long-suspected divisions between the US military and administration officials to the spotlight.

NATO currently has about 130,000 soldiers in the war-torn country. The US has plans to deploy 30,000 extra troops by August.

This is while Afghanistan’s Interior Ministry says only less than three percent of Afghan towns are safe.