NATO soldier killed in southern Afghanistan
Last Updated: Sunday, October 29, 2006 | 8:04 AM ET
CBC News
A roadside blast killed one NATO soldier and wounded eight others in southern Afghanistan, the alliance said Sunday, without disclosing the nationality of any of the soldiers.
Three civilians were wounded in the blast, which occurred Sunday in Uruzgan province, NATO said.
Canada has more than 2,000 troops in the country, most around the southern city of Kandahar, as part of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force that is trying to quell the Taliban insurgency and support development activities.
Forty-two Canadian soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan and more than 200 have been badly wounded since the Afghan mission began.
The latest death came as NATO and Afghan troops killed 70 suspected militants who attacked a military base in the province.
Some 100 to 150 militants attacked the base north of Tarin Kowt on Saturday, said U.S. Maj. Luke Knittig, a spokesman for the NATO-led force. The alliance and Afghan troops fought back for several hours with small arms fire, attack helicopters and air strikes.
Seventy insurgents were killed, Knittig said, upgrading an earlier estimate of 55 dead. One Afghan soldier was wounded. There was no independent verification of the death toll at the remote battle site.
Saturday's fighting came a day after an international human rights group criticized NATO-led troops in Afghanistan, saying their tactics increasingly endanger civilians and are turning the population against the Western alliance.
RIP