Two British, two US soldiers die in Afghanistan

Five Nato soldiers including two British and two Americans have died in Taliban-style bomb attacks in Afghanistan, Nato and British authorities said yesterday.

One British and one American soldier were killed in two attacks yesterday while the other troopers died a day earlier, Nato's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and Britain's defence ministry said.

Another Nato soldier was killed in a separate attack yesterday, ISAF said, without giving the trooper's nationality.

ISAF said the four other fatalities were the result of three separate attacks employing improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, the single biggest killer in the nearly nine-year-old war.

The British casualties included a marine from 40 Commando Royal Marines, who died in an explosion in the volatile Sangin district of southern Helmand province last Friday.

The second soldier, from The Royal Dragoon Guards, died in a blast in the Nahr-e Saraj district of Helmand yesterday, the ministry said.

He was part of a patrol providing security to allow the construction of new roads and security bases, it said.

The American casualties occurred in the south and east of the country, an ISAF spokesman said.