Jun 21, 2007, 10:59 GMT
Kabul - A NATO soldier was killed and four wounded in a landmine explosion in eastern Afghanistan, while seven militants were killed by Afghan and coalition forces in the same region, officials said on Thursday.
The soldiers were driving in a vehicle when it struck a landmine on Thursday in the eastern region, the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said in a statement.
Two soldiers were taken to hospital, where one of them succumbed to his injuries, while three other soldiers with slight wounds were treated at the scene, the statement said.
The statement did not identify the nationalities of the soldiers, nor did it give the exact location of the incident.
The majority of the forces serving under the ISAF banner in eastern Afghanistan are US soldiers.
Meanwhile, Afghan and US-led coalition forces attacked Taliban and al Qaeda hideouts in eastern Paktika province early Thursday, officials said.
During the fighting seven militants were killed and seven others were arrested, Mohammad Ekram Akhpelwak, the provincial governor, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.
The US military said the attacks against the militants' compounds were aimed at securing the release of Afghan hostages who were in the Taliban's custody.
'The forces acted on credible intelligence, which indicated three residents from the district were abducted and taken hostage by Taliban and al-Qaida forces,' the US military said in a statement.
The statement said that the joint forces rescued two of the hostages from two different compounds but the third one was killed by the rebels 24 hours prior to the arrival of combined forces.
A large weapons cache of rocket-propelled grenades, AK-47s and other weapons was discovered during the searches of the two compounds and were later destroyed, the statement said, adding that eight militants were detained for questioning.
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