US-led soldiers killed in Afghan blasts

Five US-led soldiers have been killed in two separate bomb blasts in Afghanistan, the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) says.

Three of the US-led soldiers were killed in an attack in eastern Afghanistan while the fourth lost his life in a separate assault in the south. A fifth was killed in an insurgent attack in the east, NATO said.

Most NATO soldiers in eastern Afghanistan are Americans, but further information regarding the exact location of the Wednesday incidents or the nationality of the victims is yet to be released, AFP reported.

Last year, 711 foreign troops died in the war-torn country, making it the deadliest year on record since the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.

Figures released by Afghanistan’s Baakhtar News Agency, however, bring the foreign troops’ death toll at nearly 4,500.

Official statistics indicate that more than 2,200 US-led soldiers have lost their lives in Afghanistan since 2001. The number stands at 16 since the beginning of the year.