MoD investigating Afghan suicide bomb reports
Sunday, 01 Jul 2007 12:00
Nato forces are engaged in a campaign to eliminate Taliban forces from southern Afghanistan
The Ministry of Defence (Mod) has begun investigations into the number of casualties in a suicide bombing on Nato troops in the Gereshk district of Afghanistan on Sunday.
The BBC cites Gereshk mayor Dur Ali Shah as saying that three British soldiers and three Afghan civilians had been injured in the attack.
China's official news agency, Xinhua, cites the Gereshk mayor speaking about the deaths of two Afghan citizens in the attack on Nato troops.
Investigations by British forces into the nature of the attack and the number of casualties are ongoing.
The suicide attack comes as heavy civilian casualties were reported to have occurred after Nato launched air strikes in the village of Hyderabad in Gereshk district on Friday. The strikes were in response to a Taliban ambush of a convoy of American and Afghan government troops.
The last week has been particularly difficult for British forces abroad with the violence in Afghanistan claiming the life of a British solider on Saturday. He was serving in the Worcestershire and Sherwood Foresters' First Battalion.
Three soldiers were also killed in Iraq when their vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb on Thursday evening.