NATO says three US-led troops have been killed in two separate bomb attacks in Afghanistan, amid a surge in militant attacks against foreign forces in the country. The Western military alliance said two soldiers were killed in the east, while the other was slain in the south. NATO has withheld all other details about the incidents.
Only one week into 2011, at least nine US-led foreign troops have been killed in Afghanistan.
The US-led alliance has warned that violence levels in Afghanistan are set to increase in 2011. In 2010, at least 711 US-led troops were killed in Afghanistan, making it the highest annual death toll since the war began in 2001.
According to official figures, more than 2,290 US-led soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since the invasion of the country nine years ago.
Figures released by Afghanistan’s Baakhtar News Agency, however, put the foreign troop death toll at nearly 4,500.
NATO has admitted to the rising power of militants in Afghanistan despite the growing presence of US-led forces in the country, which currently stands at 150,000.
Despite an earlier pledge by US President Barack Obama for a major drawdown of troops from the war-ravaged country by July 2011, American officials recently announced that US soldiers would remain in Afghanistan for at least another four years.
The rising death toll among US-led foreign forces has prompted growing opposition to the Afghan war in countries that have contributed troops to the mission.
Source: Press TV