Four US soldiers killed in Afghanistan

Four US and three Afghan soldiers were killed in a series of roadside bomb attacks and firefights with insurgents in Afghanistan, officials said Monday.

Two US soldiers were killed in a bomb blast in the southern region, where another soldier was killed by insurgent small arms fire, the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said in a statement.

The fourth soldier died in another roadside bomb blast in the country's eastern region, the ISAF statement said. All four died Sunday.

Three Afghan soldiers were killed and two more were injured in a roadside bomb blast on Sunday in Musa Qala district of the volatile southern province of Helmand, the Afghan Defence Ministry said in a statement.

The mine was planted by "terrorists", the statement said, referring to Taliban-led militants.

Taliban rely heavily on the use of roadside bombs, a tactic copied from insurgents in Iraq, as part of their nation-wide insurgency against the Western-backed Afghan government.

Six other Afghan soldiers were injured in a Taliban attack in the south-eastern province of Kunar Sunday, while one more soldier was wounded in a bomb blast in the southern province of Kandahar on the same day, the army statement said.

The fledgling Afghan army has more than 90,000 troops, while the NATO military, which is training the Afghan security forces, has said it would reach its goal of 134,000 by October next year.

Defence Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak said Saturday that the government intended to increase the size of its army to 240,000 troops. Such an ambitious boost would not be possible unless the US and other NATO countries agree to fund and equip them.

US President Barack Obama is expected to announce his decision by the end of this month on whether to send up to 40,000 extra troops - requested by his top commander on the ground - on top of 68,000 US soldiers and around 40,000 forces from other NATO countries already serving there.

Last updated on Nov 23^rd, 2009 at 17:36 pm IST--DPA