NATO Hit by 13 Deaths in 24 Hours in Afghanistan
VOA News
08 June 2010
NATO says three more soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan, just one day after 10 service members died in a string of attacks across the country.
The alliance says a bomb killed two of its soldiers Tuesday in southern Afghanistan. NATO did not give details. Elsewhere in the region, the British defense ministry said a British soldier was killed in a gunbattle with insurgents in the Nad-e Ali district of Helmand province.
In Monday's violence, seven American, one French and two Australian soldiers were killed in separate attacks in the south and east of the country. It was the deadliest day so far this year for international forces in Afghanistan.
Taliban militants have increased their attacks as NATO prepares for a major operation to drive the group from their stronghold in southern Kandahar province.
Two civilian police trainers - one American and the other Nepalese - were also killed Monday in a Taliban suicide attack on a police training center in the southern city of Kandahar.
Separately, the U.S. special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke, said Tuesday the Kabul government must ensure that money set aside to reintegrate Taliban fighters who renounce violence not be stolen by corrupt officials.
Holbrooke told reporters in the Spanish capital he wants the country's reconciliation program to be working before an international conference on Afghanistan begins on July 20 in Kabul.
The U.S. envoy says international funds for the program will be used to provide former Taliban militants with land, jobs, vocational training and literacy programs.
Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.
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