A NATO soldier was killed by insurgents Thursday in eastern Afghanistan, the alliance said, as an Afghan government official was gunned down in the southern city of Kandahar.

NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said the soldier, whose nationality was not revealed, "died following an insurgent attack in eastern Afghanistan".

The total number of foreign soldiers to die in the Afghan war so far this year is 617, according to an AFP count based on icasualties.org's tally. Last year's total was 521.

In Kandahar, where the insurgency is concentrated, the province's deputy director for education, Ahmadullah, was shot dead near his home Thursday by armed men on a motorbike, his boss Najibullah Ahmadi told AFP.

He said that Ahmadullah had been walking home with his young daughter from a bakery.

The girl, whose age was not immediately known, "is not hurt, she's OK," Ahmadi, the provincial education director, said.

Government officials have been specifically targeted by militants throughout this year, especially in Kandahar, which the Taliban regard as their territory.

According to media reports, the assassinations have created a climate of fear in the city, and a dearth of people willing to take government posts.

The United States and NATO have more than 150,000 troops in Afghanistan fighting the Taliban-led war, with efforts concentrated in and around Kandahar in an effort to rout the insurgents from their key stronghold.

In eastern Ghazni province, an increasingly hot insurgency spot, officials said the bodies of four police officers seized by militants during an attack earlier this week had been found.

The dead were among 19 police officers who went missing on Monday following a Taliban attack on the province's remote Khogyani district, said Delawar Zahid, the provincial police chief.

Contrary to earlier official denials, he said the Taliban had briefly taken the district, but that it was reclaimed by pro-government forces after a long fight.

"Four officers have been killed," he said, adding that one had been released and 14 were still missing.

The insurgency is now in its 10th year since the Taliban's regime was overthrown in the US-led invasion in late 2001.

strs-sak/lod/ct/mtp

Share This Article With Planet Earth