Afghanistan death toll rises

Four American troops have been killed in a roadside bomb explosion in eastern Afghanistan as this year's toll for foreign soldiers nears the total for all of 2009.

Nato has said four American troops have been killed in a roadside bomb explosion in eastern Afghanistan. Additionally, earlier today Nato announced the death of an eighth soldier in a day of concentrated violence in the Afghan war, as this year's toll for foreign soldiers nears the total for all of 2009. In a statement, Nato's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said the soldier was killed yesterday in a Taliban-style bomb attack in the country's south, where the insurgency is at its fiercest. The fatality followed the deaths of seven US personnel yesterday in two separate bomb attacks in the south.

ISAF said the eighth soldier to die was not American but did not elaborate. The total number of international soldiers to die in the Afghan theatre so far in 2010 now stands at 480. The total for all of 2009 was 521, according to a tally based on that kept by the independent icasualties.org website. The Canadian military said one of its troopers died yesterday in a German hospital of injuries sustained in a bomb attack on August 22.

Makeshift bombs, known as improvised explosive devises (IEDs), are responsible for most of the military deaths in Afghanistan, deployed by insurgents, made from fertiliser and detonated by pressure or remote control. The United States and Nato have almost 150,000 troops in Afghanistan fighting the Taliban-led insurgency, most of them in the southern hotspots of Helmand and Kandahar provinces. * AFP