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Two US soldiers, one civilian killed in Afghanistan

AFP

KABUL — A civilian was among three Americans killed in Afghanistan in an incident still under investigation, NATO said Saturday.

A brief statement from NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), released late Friday, said the deaths occurred in eastern Afghanistan earlier in the day.

"Two US servicemembers and one US employee were killed today in eastern Afghanistan," it said.

An ISAF spokesman confirmed to AFP the "employee" was an American civilian but said no further information was available on what happened or where.

Large parts of eastern Afghanistan border Pakistan's volatile tribal areas and have been the scene of fierce battles between Afghan and international forces fighting for the Kabul government against insurgents led from Pakistan.

The deaths of the US soldiers brings to 44 the total number of foreign troops to die in Afghanistan this year, according to the icasualties.org website, which shows 29 were Americans.

By comparison, the website says a total of 25 foreign troops were killed in January last year.

The United States and NATO have around 113,000 troops in the country, battling the Taliban, with another 40,000 being deployed through to August.

That extra deployment is being backed up by what US officials call a "civilian surge", as the renewed strategy for the war includes backing military action with aid and development.

Many of those civilians -- specialists in everything from wheat seeds to stress counselling -- are fanning out to military bases across Afghanistan, where they are vulnerable to Taliban attack.

Afghan civilians are also increasingly vulnerable to the tactics of both Taliban fighters and their foes, with ISAF reporting on Saturday that two Afghans were killed after failing to stop their vehicle when ordered.

The incident happened in southern Ghazni province on Friday when "an ISAF force fired on a vehicle when it failed to heed several warning signs to stop", ISAF said.

"Unfortunately, two Afghan civilians were killed and one was injured by the disabling shots fired at the engine block of the vehicle as it approached at a high rate of speed," it said, adding: "A fourth civilian in the vehicle was unharmed."

Civilian deaths jumped last year to 2,412, making 2009 the deadliest year for ordinary Afghans since the US-led invasion, a UN report said earlier this month, though most were caused by the Taliban.

In a friendly fire incident in Wardak province, southwest of Kabul, four Afghan soldiers were killed and another seven wounded, according to a spokesman for the provincial governor.

"Afghan soldiers and ISAF were conducting a joint operation, after which the Afghan soldiers were returning to their base in Salar, in Sayed Abad district, when clashes erupted in the dark around 3:00 am (2030 GMT)," said Shaidullah Shahid.

He said the ISAF forces also sustained casualties but he had no details and ISAF had no comment.

In northwestern Badghis province, eight Taliban fighters were killed when an air strike was called in during clashes between the militants and NATO forces, the deputy provincial police chief, Abdul Jabar, told AFP.