A NATO-led coalition soldier was killed in an explosion in southern Afghanistan on Sunday, bringing the foreign troop death toll to 700 and making 2010 the deadliest year for international troops fighting Taliban militants in the country.
The Afghan Foreign Ministry reported that a Canadian soldier had been killed as a result of an improvised explosive device attack in the province of Kandahar.
A total of 521 international troops were killed in Afghanistan in 2009.
Violence has surged in Afghanistan in recent months, with the Taliban group, which was toppled in a 2001 U.S.-led campaign, staging regular attacks on provincial government officials, police and civilians and planting roadside bombs to target Afghan, U.S. and NATO troops.
KABUL, December 19 (RIA Novosti)