Agence France-Presse,
KABUL (AFP): Six soldiers with the NATO-led force and their Afghan interpreter were killed Wednesday when their vehicle struck a bomb in southern Afghanistan, the force said.
The 37-nation International Security Assistance Force did not release the nationalities of the foreign troops, leaving such announcements to their home nations.
The Canadian defence ministry said however there had been an “incident.”
“We are aware of an incident but it's still being investigated. We don't have any further details,” spokeswoman Lieutenant Carole Brown said.
“Six ISAF soldiers and one Afghan ISAF employee were killed today in southern Afghanistan after the vehicle they were riding struck an improvised explosive device,” ISAF said in a statement.
It said separately that the Afghan was an interpreter.
The deaths took to 105 the number of foreign soldiers killed in Afghanistan this year, most of them in combat.
ISAF would not identify the province where the soldiers were killed. Most of the troops in the south are British, based mostly in Helmand and Canadians in Kandahar — the birthplace of the Taliban movement.
“The ISAF community mourns the loss of these brave soldiers,” spokeswoman Lieutenant Colonel Maria Carl said. “They gave their lives to improve the lives of the Afghan people.”
It was the deadliest explosion on the NATO forces since six Canadian soldiers were killed after a mine exploded on April 8.
