Two NATO soldiers and more than a dozen rebels have been killed in Afghanistan, the military said Saturday, with Taliban-linked violence spiralling weeks before presidential elections.

A British soldier was killed when a bomb exploded on Saturday in the southern province of Helmand, a hot bed of Taliban violence where thousands of British and US troops are pressing offensives ahead of the August polls.

"The soldier was killed as a result of an explosion that happened whilst on a vehicle patrol in Lashkar Gah District, central Helmand Province," London's defence ministry said.

The soldier is the 20th British serviceman to die in Afghanistan this month.

On Friday, NATO troops came under gun and rocket-propelled grenade fire as they tried to search a house in the east of the country, the military said.

One NATO soldier was killed in the exchange of fire, it said, without revealing the nationality of the victim or the exact location of the clash.

The troops called in an air strike "to neutralise the enemy threat, dropping three bombs and killing several insurgents," it added.

The statement did not say how many militants were killed, in line with a new US policy to improve relations with the local population by withholding the number of insurgent deaths.

Western military casualties have hit record levels in Afghanistan as foreign governments scramble extra troops to the war-torn nation, hoping to counter an escalating Taliban insurgency ahead of elections on August 20.

Up to 12 insurgents were killed in a gun battle with US-led troops in the eastern province of Nangarhar on Friday.

The rebels attacked US-led and Afghan security forces who were conducting operations against Taliban "suicide bombing cells in the area", a military spokesman said.

There are about 90,000 foreign troops — mainly US, British and Canadian — deployed in Afghanistan on a mission to stabilise the country with the Taliban insurgency at its deadliest since the 2001 US-led invasion.

The independent www.icasualties.org website, which tracks military losses, says 222 foreign soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan this year, not including the latest death.

The website reports 66 killed in July alone — the deadliest month for international forces since the 2001 invasion.

earlier related report

US stops giving militant death tolls in Afghanistan

The US military in Afghanistan has stopped releasing figures showing how many militants have been killed in fighting with US-led forces, officials said Friday.

"Indicating the number of insurgents killed has little relevance to impacting the lives of Afghans," Rear Admiral Gregory Smith said in an email to AFP.

"In fact, if that were the only purpose and metric, you would likely only extend the time it takes to bring about an end to the insurgency."

Smith sent an order last month to NATO and US forces blocking the military from releasing details on militant death tolls and providing estimates instead.

"The goal of security operations in an insurgency is to separate the people from the insurgents. Without access to the people, the insurgents lose their main center of gravity," he said.

Smith, who is revamping communications for the US military and the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan, stressed US-led military operations were not aimed at killing insurgents.

The objective was to "clear areas of insurgency and give the people a chance to reconnect with official forms of governance and to rebuild their lives, socially and economically."

The move comes as President Barack Obama's administration is shifting the US war strategy in Afghanistan toward enhancing the safety of civilians, seeking to stem support for the deadly Taliban insurgency.

Colonel Greg Julian, the outgoing spokesman for US forces in Afghanistan, said he had previously released militant death tolls in order to counter propaganda by the Taliban and its Al-Qaeda allies.

"In the past, I gave specific details of what took place during engagements to counter insurgent lies and exaggerations," he said in an email.

"The insurgent lying tactic is now widely understood and it is far better to focus on the improvements to security and quality of life improvements for Afghans than the number of insurgents killed."

Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Sunday the US military and its allies must show progress in Afghanistan by mid-2010 to avoid public perception that the conflict has become unwinnable.

Victory was a "long-term prospect" under any scenario and the United States would not win the war within a year, Gates told the Los Angeles Times.

Obama has dispatched 21,000 fresh troop reinforcements to Afghanistan as international forces battle a mounting Taliban insurgency. By year's end, some 68,000 US forces are set to operate in Afghanistan.

Share This Article With Planet Earth