10 NATO soldiers killed in Afghanistan in single day

KABUL (AFP) - NATO announced late Monday the deaths of seven more alliance soldiers in Afghanistan, bringing the toll for the day to 10.

Canadian Task Force Kandahar soldiers take part in a shooting excercise at Camp Nathan Smith in Kandahar city. NATO announced late Monday the deaths of seven more alliance soldiers in Afghanistan, bringing the toll for the day to 10.

"Today 10 ISAF soldiers were killed in Afghanistan," a spokesman for the International Security Assistance Force told AFP.

Five of the soldiers died after an improvised explosive device (IED) detonated in eastern Afghanistan, one died as a result of gunfire also in the east and another was killed by an IED in the south, it said in a statement.

Earlier the military announced that three NATO soldiers, including at least one American, were killed in separate shooting and bomb attacks in the south, where much of Afghanistan's unrest is taking place.

NATO, US and Afghan troops are preparing their biggest offensive yet against the Taliban in the southern province of Kandahar, with total foreign troop numbers in the country set to peak at 150,000 by August.