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1 NATO soldier killed in S. Afghanistan

19 June 2012 18:10 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. One NATO soldier was killed on Tuesday following an insurgent attack in southern Afghanistan, the military alliance confirmed, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

"An International Security Assistance Force service member died following an insurgent attack in southern Afghanistan today." the NATO-led ISAF said in a press releases issued on Thursday.

However, the brief statement did not provide more details and the nationality of the victim, only saying "it is ISAF policy to defer casualty identification procedures to the relevant national authorities."

At least three policemen and four Taliban insurgents were killed when militants carried out a coordinated attack on an Afghan forces and NATO-led coalition troops check post in southern Kandahar province early Tuesday morning, an official said.

"Four militants wearing police uniform armed with suicide vests and weapons raided a joint check post at around 6 a.m. Tuesday in Dand district," a spokesman for the governor office Jawid Faisal told Xinhua.

He said the four attackers were killed in the attack and during the gun battle and explosions three policemen were killed and seven other policemen injured.

Meantime, a security official in provincial capital Kandahar city told Xinhua anonymously that one foreign soldier was also killed and 11 other NATO-led coalition forces were injured in the attack.

Taliban militants claimed responsibility for the attack.

Taliban rebels, who have been waging more than a decade-long insurgency, announced on May 2 that they would launch a spring rebel offensive starting from May 3 to target Afghan forces as well as U.S. and NATO troops across the country.

A total of 204 NATO soldiers with majority of them Americans have been killed in Afghanistan so far this year.