Four NATO troops killed in east, south

KABUL-led soldiers were killed in a bomb attack and a fourth was shot dead by his Afghan counterpart separately in south and east of the country, the alliance said on Friday.

An International Security Assistance Force (ISAF late on Thursday.

A fourth soldier, a US servicemember, was killed when an Afghan soldier opened fire at NATO forces in southern Afghanistan, the statement said, without revealing the exact location and time of the incidents.

The attacker was killed when the troops returned fire, it said, adding an investigation had been launched into the shooting, the 11th incident of its kind this year.

Media reports say so far 80 NATO-led troops have been killed by their Afghan counterparts since 2007. At least 18 were killed last year.

Mostly US soldiers are based in southern and eastern Afghanistan. According to http://icasualties.org/ website, the number of foreign soldiers killed in Afghanistan this year has reached 131.

As many as 39 foreign soldiers were killed in March and another 23 in April, according to reports.

About 2,978 international soldiers, including 1,952 Americans, have so far been killed since the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.

frm/ma

Visits: 2