Kabul - Two NATO soldiers, including a US service member, were killed in attacks in southern Afghanistan, where NATO asked the local residents to stay in their homes ahead of a major operation expected in the coming days, officials said Tuesday. The US soldier was killed in a roadside bomb blast in the volatile southern region on Tuesday, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Forces (ISAF) said in a statement.
Also on Tuesday, another NATO soldier died in a fight with suspected Taliban fighters in the same region, the statement said, but did not reveal the nationality of the deceased. Most of the NATO troops stationed in the southern region are from Britain, Canada and the Netherlands.
Tuesday's incidents came a day after the alliance announced the deaths of three British soldiers killed in separate attacks in the restive Helmand province. Nearly 10,000 British troops are stationed in the province as part of around 113,000 NATO troops.
The latest deaths took to 62 the number of foreign troops killed in the Afghanistan conflict so far this year.
Meanwhile, NATO said that its commanders in the Helmand province were encouraging the local residents to stay in the safety of their homes ahead of a major operation in the central part of the province.
The operation, dubbed Mushtarak, a Dari word for "together," is said to be the biggest since the ouster of the Taliban regime in late 2001.
Around 15,000 Afghan, US, British, French, and Estonian forces are expected to conduct the onslaught against the Taliban's last bastion in Helmand's Marjah district, which is home to more than 80,000 people.
Wary of their lives, hundreds of residents have fled the district ahead of the much-publicized operation, while locals have said that the Taliban in the region were digging in for the fight.
The ISAF statement said that only fewer than 200 families had left the central region of the province, while "combined force commanders are encouraging civilians to remain in the safety of their homes."
"Every effort is being made to ensure minimum disruption to the residents during the operation," it said.
NATO officials, whose soldiers are involved in the operation, have warned the public that there could be casualties as the Taliban have planted additional roadside bombs around the district to keep the combined forces at bay.
