August 02, 2008	Saturday	Rajab 29, 1429

KABUL, Aug 1: Two improvised explosive devices killed five soldiers from Nato-led forces and one civilian, while a young suicide bomber killed three civilians in Afghanistan on Friday.

Meanwhile, a group of aid agencies said the number of militant attacks in the country was greater in both May and June than in any month since US-led and Afghan forces toppled the Taliban in 2001, and more than 260 civilians were killed in July.

Four soldiers of Nato’s International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) and one civilian were killed by an explosive device in Kunar, Isaf said in a statement.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack and said they had used a remote-controlled roadside bomb. A fifth Isaf soldier was killed in an explosion in Khost, the force said in a separate statement.

Isaf does not release the nationality of dead soldiers but most of the soldiers stationed in both the provinces are American

“This is a very difficult time right now, and our sincere condolences and sympathies are with the family and friends of the brave soldiers and civilian who died,” Isaf spokesman Capt Mark Windsor said.

In another incident, a suicide bomber killed three civilians in Zaranj district in Nimroz province, district police chief Ayub Badakhshi told Reuters.

Police identified the suicide bomber, who was on foot, and shot him when his explosives detonated, Mr Badakhshi said. “We had to shoot him dead because we couldn’t stop him,” he said.

Police said the bomber was around 15 years old.

The Agency Coordinating Body for Afghan Relief (Acbar), the umbrella group of about 100 NGOs in Afghanistan, said in its statement: “We... express our grave concern about the deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan and the serious impact on civilians.”

Many schools and clinics had closed and significant numbers of people had become internally displaced, while 19 NGO staff had been killed this year, Acbar said.

The number of international troops in the country has risen by more than 10,000 in the past year to some 71,000 and Afghan troop levels have risen by about the same number, but the Taliban insurgency has expanded in scope and depth.

Some 2,500 people had been killed in the Afghan conflict this year, up to 1,000 of them civilians, Acbar said.—Reuters