Five US troops die in Afghanistan

Nato losses in Afghanistan have reached 12 in the past 24 hours after five US troops were killed in attacks today.

Nato losses in Afghanistan have reached 12 in the past 24 hours after five US troops were killed in attacks today.

Four US personnel were killed by a roadside bomb in the south, while another US service member died of wounds from a gun battle.

Three British troops were killed and another four wounded by a rogue Afghan soldier at their base in Helmand Province in southern Afghanistan early yesterday. In a separate incident in Sangin district, also yesterday, another British soldier was shot dead while on foot patrol.

Late yesterday, three US other troops died when a suicide attacker rammed a car bomb into the gate of the HQ of the elite Afghan National Civil Order in Kandahar, followed by attackers with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades. An Afghan policeman and five civilians also died in the attack, but the Taliban failed to enter the compound.

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Lieut Neal Turkington (26), from Portadown, Co Armagh, was one of three soldiers from the 1st Battalion The Royal Gurkha Rifles killed yesterday by the rogue member of the Afghan National Army in the base they shared at Nahr-e Saraj.

It is understood he died alongside a Nepalese Gurkha when the soldier fired a rocket-propelled grenade into the command centre at Patrol Base 3. The Afghan also shot a major while he slept in quarters. A manhunt is now on for the soldier after claims from the Taliban that they are harbouring him.

Nato and Afghan troops are fanning out elsewhere in Kandahar province to pressure insurgents in rural areas. The strategy is to improve security with more and better-trained police and troops so that capable governance can take root and development projects can move forward and win the loyalty of ordinary Afghans.

However, the Taliban have responded by stepping up suicide attacks and bombings, making last month the deadliest of the nearly nine-year-old war for international forces. So far in July, 45 international troops have died in Afghanistan.

In other attacks around the country nine Afghan civilians died in the south when their vehicle hit a roadside bomb in Marjah in Helmand province. Another homemade bomb killed two security guards travelling on a road in eastern Paktika province.

Two suspected Taliban militants also died in Helmand’s Lashkar Gar district when the roadside bomb they were trying to plant exploded prematurely.

In Britain, a general who has suggested coalition forces in Afghanistan could open talks soon with the Taliban, is to take over as Britain's top military commander.

Gen David Richards (58) will become chief of the defence staff in October after the new coalition government completes a sweeping defence review that could drastically reshape Britain's armed forces and lead to deep defence spending cuts.

Gen Richards takes over at a time when public pressure is growing for Britain to withdraw its 9,500 troops from Afghanistan after nine years of conflict that have killed 318 British soldiers.

The general told the BBC last month that he saw no reason why talks with the Taliban should not begin "pretty soon" as part of an exit strategy for international forces from Afghanistan.

That approach has been backed by Defence Secretary Liam Fox who said last month he had discussed with the officer the idea of talking to some Taliban.