Moreover, the U.S. is leading a separate 20,000-strong multi- national Coalition forces in Afghanistan. The Coalition said one of its troops was killed Sunday in a bomb attack in restive southern Helmand province.

Despite a presence of 70,000 international troops in the war- torn nation, the Taliban-led insurgency continued to gain pace here through increased ambushes and bomb attacks, making the past two months the deadliest period for foreign soldiers in years.

Sunday's incidents brought the figure of foreign soldiers' fatalities in Afghanistan this year even higher than 100.

Anti-government elements, though, as NATO officials put, weakened and incapable to confront foreign troops directly, have substantially intensified their attacks across the country over the months, launching shocking raids one by one, from jail break to overrunning villages and districts.

Some 8,000 people died in Afghan violence last year, the deadliest one after the hard-line Taliban regime collapsed in late 2001.

(Xinhua News Agency July 14, 2008)