KABUL: Nato Wednesday added three deaths to the toll of foreign soldiers fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan, all of them killed by crude bombs favoured by the insurgents.

All three troops, whose nationalities were not given, died on Tuesday in bomb attacks in southern Afghanistan, where the long war is at its fiercest, Nato's International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) said in a statement.

The deaths bring to 339 the number of foreign soldiers to have died in the Afghan conflict this year, according to an AFP tally based on a count kept by the icasualties.org website.

In July alone, 17 foreign soldiers have died. June set the record for the war, now in its ninth year, with 102 deaths.

Strategic planners warned the summer “fighting season” would see a spike in deaths, as Nato and the US beef up deployments in an effort to speed an end to the war.

Around 140,000 Nato and US troops are in Afghanistan, with another 10,000 expected to arrive, mostly in southern Helmand and Kandahar provinces, in coming weeks.