8 Nato troops, 6 children killed in Afghan blasts

8 Nato troops, 6 children killed in Afghan blasts
AFP, January 06, 2012

Eight Nato soldiers have been killed in a series of bomb attacks in southern Afghanistan, the military said Friday.

Three died on Thursday, another lost his life in a blast on Friday and four more were killed in second attack later the same day.

Nato's US-led International Security Assistance Force did not release the nationalities of the soldiers, in keeping with policy.

Details would be released by the soldiers' home countries, a spokesman said.

More than 560 foreign troops were killed last year in Afghanistan, where some 130,000 US-led troops are fighting an insurgency by hardline Taliban Islamists against the Western-backed government of President Hamid Karzai.

Six children die in Afghan bomb blast

At least six children and one man were killed when a bomb planted in a garbage bin exploded Friday in Tirin Kot, capital of Afghanistan's southern province of Uruzgan, police said.

Four other children who were playing nearby were wounded, said spokesman Fardi Ayel.

"At around 3:00 pm today there was an explosion in Tirin Kot city, initial information we have is that six children and one man have been killed," he said.

There was no obvious target for the bombing, although the home of a local police commander was nearby, he said.