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2 NATO Troops, 1 Civilian Killed in Afghanistan

17 October 2010 03:54 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. NATO says two of its service members died in two separate attacks in Afghanistan Saturday, APA reports quoting voanews.com website.
One soldier died in a bomb blast in the southern part of the country, while the other was killed in the north.
The Swedish military identified the soldier killed in the north as one of its own. It said two other troops were wounded when their vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb.
Sweden has about 500 soldiers in Afghanistan. The latest death is its fifth casualty.
Also Saturday, a bomb explosion near a police compound in the southern city of Kandahar killed at least one civilian and wounded four others.
In Helmand province Saturday, a joint Afghan-NATO patrol discovered a large compound filled with home-made bombs. NATO says the facility was also rigged with other explosives.
NATO also has been supporting efforts by Afghan President Hamid Karzai to reconcile with Taliban militants.
A spokesman for Afghanistanâ€™s High Council for Peace, Bryali Helali, told VOA Saturday there have been â€œunofficialâ€ discussions between the Afghan government and the Taliban.
Helaliâ€™s comments came a day after the top commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, U.S. General David Petraeus, said NATO was facilitating the safe passage of Taliban leaders to Kabul.
The Taliban have not commented since Wednesday, when they categorically denied any contact with the Afghan government.