Kabul, Afghanistan – Roadside bombs in southern Afghanistan left seven NATO soldiers dead Sunday, the alliance said, as its forces continued an anti-Taliban offensive in the fertile opium-producing region.
Six troops died and one was injured when one of the bombs struck their vehicle, the alliance said in a statement. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper confirmed they were Canadian troops, Canadian Press said.
Another roadside bomb killed one NATO soldier and wounded two, NATO said.
Officials did not release the nationality of those soldiers and did not give details or say where the attacks took place.
The fatalities underline how virulent the Taliban-led resistance remains, more than five years after a U.S.-led invasion drove the hard-line militia from power for harboring al-Qaeda.
The attack appeared to have inflicted the worst toll on foreign troops in a single combat incident since a U.S. helicopter crashed in Kunar in June 2005 after apparently being hit by a rocket-propelled grenade. Sixteen American troops died.
Separately, a purported Taliban spokesman said a kidnapped translator for an Italian journalist was beheaded Sunday in southern Afghanistan. The government confirmed the death.
Ajmal Naqshbandi, a freelance journalist and translator, was kidnapped March 5 along with journalist Daniele Mastrogiacomo and a driver.
The driver was beheaded. Mastrogiacomo, who worked for the daily La Repubblica, was released March 19 in a much-criticized swap for five Taliban militants.
The Taliban made a similar demand in return for Naqshbandi’s release.
“We asked for two Taliban commanders to be released in exchange for Ajmal Naqshbandi, but the government did not care for our demands, and today, at 3:05 p.m., we beheaded Ajmal in Garmsir district of Helmand province,” said Shahabuddin Atal, who claimed to be a spokesman for regional Taliban commander Mullah Dadullah.
